THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE  LITHUANIAN   NATION 


The  History  of 
The  Lithuanian  Nation 

AND 

Its  Present  National  Aspirations 


By 
Kunigas  Antanas  Jusaitis 

Master  of  Laws  of  the  University  of  Fribourg,  Switzerland 


Translated  from  the  Lithuanian 


Published  by 

The  Lithuanian  Catholic  Truth  Society 
1918 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
LITHUANIAN  CATHOLIC  TRUTH  SOCIETY. 


Translated  from  Lithuanian  as  published  in  a  weekly  maga- 
zine, Zvaigzde,  in  1917,  by  A.  Milukas  &  Company,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 


<  >5K 

*  5  I  \ 

PROEM 

>j         Out  of  the  depths  there  comes  a  cry  from  a 
(J    nation  which  for  centuries  has  been  forced  to 
be  inarticulate.     It  is  not  a  demand  for  privi- 
lege, for  territory  to  which  it  might  have  only 
a  historical  claim;  it  is  a  cry  for  life,  and  if  we 
really   believe   in   our   own    professions,    if  the 
traditions  of  1776  have  not  been  effaced,  if  the 
)k     definition  of  self-determinism  with  which  Pres- 
c^     ident  Wilson  is  changing  the  evil  systems  of 
^v  ^  lust  and  avarice  in  Europe  and  the  rest  of  the 
^^^   world — we  Americans  must  listen  to  this  cry 
from  the  core  of  the  hearts  of  the  Lithuanians. 
We  cannot  close  our  ears  to  it. 

We  know  the  story  of  Poland — when  a 
King's  mistress  stifled  the  protests  of  France, 
and  even  the  cynical  Frederick  of  Prussia  won- 
dered how  the  Empress  Maria  Teresa  could 
square  her  conscience  to  her  confessor;  we 
know  the  story  of  Ireland,  of  the  terrible 
wrongs  which  liberal-minded  Englishmen  re- 
?^  gret  as  deeply  as  the  Irishmen  themselves,  we 
are  beginning  to  understand  by  what  horrible 
^  oppression  in  Schleswig-Holstein  the  German 
^  Empire  made  itself  dominant,  and  developed 
that  system  of  autocracy  toward  which  at  times 
every  European  nation  has  had  tendencies; 
but  the  story  of  the  Lithuanians — blood- 
brothers  with  us  in  their  love  of  freedom — is 
new  to  most  of  us. 


191708 


•^ 


vi  PROEM 

To  me,  dwelling  in  the  centre  of  diplomatic 
"conversations"  for  many  years,  it  is  an  old 
and  appalling  story.  No  man  can  know  a 
Lithuanian  without  discovering  that  a  never- 
dying  passion  for  the  independence  of  his 
country  is  eating  into  his  soul.  And  Why .? 
This  book  tells  us,  with  a  simplicity  and  power 
which  no  man  who  beheves  in  a  national,  as 
well  as  an  individual  conscience,  ought  to 
resist.  This  volutpe  is  short;  it  contains.^no 
idle  words,  no  mere  rliet6nc;~TrTi=tts'TFiestory 
of~a"v£ron^ed  nation  so  convincingly  that  any 
analysis  of  its  contents  in  this  little  Preface 
would  be  utterly  superfluous.  There  is  no 
statement  in  it  that  is  not  true^ 

I,  whom  three  Presidents  of  the  United 
States — Mr,  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Taft  and 
President  Wilson,  have  trusted  to  represent 
the  American  people  in  a  little  nation,  that  of 
Denmark,  because  both  by  inheritance  and 
conviction  I  believed  that  democracy  could 
only  be  true  to  its  principles  when  it  so  applied 
them  that  these  little  nations  might  be  free  to 
develop  their  own  culture — have  a  right  to 
speak  for  Lithuania  as  a  nation,  and  to  voice 
the  belief  that,  in  the  great  reckoning  which 
the  world  awaits  to-day,  the  demand  of  this 
most  oppressed  of  little  countries  shall  receive 
the  tenderest  sympathy  and  the  most  practical 
support  from  her  just  and  generous  brethren, 
the  American  people. 

Maurice  Francis  Egan. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 


PAGE 


The  Nations  of  the  Lithuanian  (Aistian)  Race;  Their 
Territory,  Origin,  Language,  Religion,  Char- 
acter, Culture  Before  the  Beginning  of  Their 
History  (Before    1200  A.  D.) I 


CHAPTER  n 

The  History  of  the   Lithuanian  Nation  and  State 

to  the  Death  of  Vitautas 11 


CHAPTER  HI 

The  Relations  with  the  Poles  which  Began  Under 
Grand  Duke  Jagela;  the  Rulers  of  the  same 
Lithuanian  Dynasty  for  both  States;  the  Long- 
Continued  Personal  Union  of  both  States  Re- 
peatedly Renewed;  Alliances  with  Poland  Con- 
tracted many  Times;  Weakening  of  the  Supreme 
Power  of  Government  in  Lithuania  by  the  Intro- 
duction OF  Polish  States  Laws;  the  Spread  of 
Polonization  in  Lithuania  and  with  It  the  De- 
moralization of  the  National  Consciousness  of 
THE  Lithuanian  People.  The  Consequences  of 
these  Relations  is  the  Polish-Lithuanian  Union 
AT  Lublin 23 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 


PAGE 


The  Juristic  Appraisement  of  the  Bonds  Between 
Lithuanian  and  Polish  States  which  Existed  Be- 
fore AND  After  the  Union  of  Lublin  ....       38 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Causes  of  the  Downfall  of  the  Polish  (and  with 
It  the  Lithuanian)  State;  the  Union  with  Lithu- 
ania Is  THE  True  Reason  for  the  Growth  of  the 
Polish  Nation  and  State,  but,  at  the  same  Time, 
THE  Cause  of  Internal  Anarchy  and  the  Down- 
fall of  that  State 52 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Survival  of  the  National  Consciousness  of  the 
Lithuanians  up  to  the  Present  Day  Through  the 
Preservation  of  Their  Own  Language,  Traditions, 
and  the  Expression  of  that  Consciousness  in  Their 
Literature;  the  Rise  and  Expansion  among  the 
Lithuanians  of  the  Idea  of  National  Indepen- 
dence from  Dangerous  Foreign  Influence;  the 
Present  Cultural  and  Economic  Growth  of  the 
Nation 63 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Present  National  Aspirations  of  the  Lithu- 
anians: THE  Political  Unity  and  Independence 
of  All  Parts  of  the  Lithuanian  Nation  now  Un- 
der Different  Governments  (Russian  and  Ger- 
man); Freedom  from  Foreign  Influences;  the  Pres- 
ervation OF  One  and  Sole  Lithuanian  Language 
as  the  National  Tongue;  Relations  with  the 
Poles,  White  Russians,  and  Letts 81 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  VIII 

PAGE 

Is  Lithuania,  as  a  State,  Possible  ?  Ability  of  Lithu- 
anians FOR  Statesmanship;  the  Right  to  Inde- 
pendence OF  Nations  which  Have  Lost  or  Have 
Never  FIad  Their  Own  Government;  the  Fate  of 
Small  Nations  in  Foreign  States  (viz.,  Russia); 
Have  the  Lithuanians  a  Sufficient  Number  of 
Educated  Men  to  Conduct  the  Government  of 
State  ?  Area  and  Population  of  Lithuania  Com- 
pared with  the  Different  Independent  European 
States 91 

Appendix 109 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  NATIONS  OF  THE  LITHUANIAN  (AISTIAN)  RACE; 
THEIR  TERRITORY,  ORIGIN,  LANGUAGE,  RELIG- 
ION, CHARACTER,  CULTURE  BEFORE  THE  BE- 
GINNING OF  THEIR  HISTORY  (BEFORE  1200  A.  D.) 

THE  Lithuanians  are  among  the  smaller 
nations  of  Europe.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century  this  nation 
was  so  humiliated  by  the  Polonization  of  its 
higher  classes  and  by  suppression  of  its  nation- 
ality by  the  Russian  Government  that  even  its 
name  has  been  denied  a  place  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  world.  Yet  there  was  a  time,  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  when 
Lithuania  was  one  of  the  largest  empires  in 
Europe. 

In  speaking  of  Lithuania  one  must  consider 
it  in  these  three  aspects:  First,  the  mighty 
Lithuanian  state  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the 
historical  Lithuania,  which  extended  from  the 
Baltic  Sea  at  Polangen  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Niemen  River  to  the  Black  Sea  between  the 
Dnieper    and    Dniester    rivers,  where    now   is 


2         THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

situated  the  city  of  Odessa,  and  from  the  Bug 
River  in  the  west  to  the  river  Oka  in  the  east. 
Second,  Lithuania  taken  as  a  territory  popu- 
lated with  descendants  of  the  Lithuanian  race, 
where  now  a  part  of  them  use  the  White  Rus- 
sian language  and  a  few,  who  live  in  scattered 
groups,  use  the  Polish,  but  where  in  the  earlier 
centuries  the  people  were  of  the  same  Lithu- 
anian blood,  the  same  Lithuanian  language,  and 
of  the  same  Lithuanian  religion  and  customs 
peculiar  to  themselves — such  is  Lithuania  in 
a  wide  ethnographical  sense.  It  embraces  the 
former  Russian  governments  of  Kovno,  Vilna, 
Suvalki,  and  Grodno,  and  East  Prussia  to 
the  River  Alle  and  the  city  of  Labiau  on  the 
Baltic  coast. 

But  in  a  strict  ethnographical  sense,  and  this 
is  the  third  aspect  of  the  case,  Lithuania  is  a 
country  where  the  population  even  now  speaks 
the  Lithuanian  language,  has  not  forgotten  its 
glorious  historical  past,  and  is  animated  by  the 
same  national  ideal — the  political  unity  of  the 
entire  Lithuanian  territory  under  one  national 
government,  their  own  state  authorit3^ 

That  land  which  is  even  now  Lithuanian  in 
its  language  and  is  the  kernel  of  historic  Lithu- 


BEFORE    1200  A.   D.  3 

ania  comprises  the  entire  government  of  Kovno, 
Vilna  (except  two  counties  in  the  east,  Disna 
and  Vileika),  a  part  of  Grodno  north  of  the 
Niemen,  Suvalki  (except  the  county  of  Augus- 
tovo),  parts  of  the  government  of  Courland, 
and  the  northeastern  part  of  Eastern  Prussia 
extending  to  the  Pregel  River. 

The  Lithuanians,  together  with  their  kins- 
men, the  Letts,  who  live  in  the  governments  of 
Courland,  Livonia,  and  Vitebsk,  and  the  old 
Prussians*  (Borussi),  who  occupied  the  territory 
to  the  west  of  the  Lithuanians  up  to  the  river 
Vistula,  but  a  part  of  whom  were  annihilated 
by  the  Teutons  in  the  wars  in  the  thirteenth 
century  and  the  remnants  of  whom  were 
definitely   Germanized    about   the  end   of  the 

*  The  Prussians  mentioned  here  are  not  to  be  identified  with 
the  Prussians  of  modern  times.  Whenever  the  term  Prussians  is 
used  in  this  book  it  refers  to  the  Borussians  or  Prussians  from 
whom  the  name  of  the  modern  Prussians  is  derived  but  with 
whom  they  have  no  racial  connection.  The  name  came  to  the 
present  Prussians  by  conquest.  The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica 
in  its  article  on  the  Lithuanians  gives  the  Borussians  or  Prus- 
sians as  one  of  the  three  main  branches  of  the  Lithuanian  stem  in 
the  tenth  century;  but  it  states:  "The  Lithuanian  territory  thus 
lay  open  to  foreign  invasions,  and  the  Russians  as  well  as  the 
German  crusaders  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity.  The 
Borussians  soon  fell  under  the  dominion  of  Germans,  and  ceased 
to  constitute  a  separate  nationality,  leaving  only  their  name  to 
the  state  which  later  became  Prussia." 


4         THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

seventeenth  century,  all  belong  to  the  Indo- 
European  nations.  The  Lithuanians  are  not  of 
the  Slavonic  race,  nor  are  they  of  the  German 
race,  with  which  they  have  as  Httle  in  common 
as  they  have  with  the  Latins,  Persians,  or 
Greeks.  Their  Lithuanian  language  with  its 
old  forms  is  so  important  to  the  science  of  lin- 
guistic study  that  it  is  placed  in  a  class  with 
the  Sanscrit.  They  are  the  aboriginal  inhab- 
itants of  their  land;  no  other  race  inhabited  it 
before  them.  Anthropological  researches  show 
that  the  human  skulls  unearthed  in  the  grave- 
yards of  Lithuania  belong  to  people  of  the  same 
anthropological  class  as  the  present  Lithua- 
nians. The  latest  theory  in  history  about  the 
first  Indo-European  settlements,  supported  by 
archaeology,  anthropology,  and  linguistic  re- 
searches, places  these  settlements  in  the  middle 
of  Europe  and  in  the  south  Russian  steppes;  it 
rejects  the  first  accepted  supposition  about  the 
coming  of  Indo-Europeans  from  Asia;  they  had 
emigrated  to  Asia  from  Europe.  The  sup- 
positions of  some  Lithuanian  writers  that  Lithu- 
anians had  come  from  Asia  Minor  are  not 
sound. 

Before    their    adoption    of   Christianity    the 


BEFORE    1200  A.   D.  5 

Lithuanians,  together  with  their  kinsmen,  the 
Letts  and  the  Prussians,*  had  their  own  rehgion, 
with  an  estabhshed  hierarchy,  in  which  were 
different  ranks  of  divines  ruled  over  by  a  single 
high  priest.  The  supreme  god  was  Perkunas, 
god  of  the  heavens  and  of  thunder.  He  cor- 
responds to  the  Roman  Jupiter  or  the  Greek 
Zeus.  There  were  other  gods  who  were  the 
personification  of  nature  and  of  places  —  of 
homes,  rivers,  forests;  and  guardian  deities  of 
the  people's  industries,  such  as  farming  and 
hunting;   and  gods  of  love  and  of  war. 

Lately  a  foreigner  who  visited  Lithuania, 
which  is  now  occupied  by  German  armies,t 
wrote  of  the  character  of  Lithuanians: 

**They  are  a  quiet,  polite  people,  peacefully 
following  their  occupations  of  farming  and  other 
work  about  their  homes,  and  seeing  them  no 
one  could  even  think  that  this  was  the  same 
nation  that  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  showed  itself  so  valiant,  that  it  cre- 
ated such  a  great  kingdom  and  conquered  such 
an  extent  of  land." 

*  Not  to  be  identified  with  the  modern  Prussians  (see  footnote, 

P-  3)-   , 

fThis  article  was  written  in  1917  when  the  German  armies 
were  still  occupying  Lithuania. 


6         THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century 
the  Lithuanians  united  in  one  state  so  as  to 
defend  themselves  from  attack  by  the  Slavs 
and  Germans,  and  began  a  fierce  war  with 
their  aggressors  to  save  a  place  for  themselves 
in  the  world.  During  the  thirteenth  century 
the  Slav  and  German  writers  called  the  Lithu- 
anians "the  pagan-Lithuanians,  wildmen,  cruel, 
plunderers,  living  as  animals."  Relying  on 
this  statement  a  great  many  Poles  of  our  day 
remind  the  Lithuanians  that  they  should  be 
grateful  to  them,  because  they,  the  Poles, 
uniting  with  the  Lithuanians,  made  them  a 
civilized  people. 

To  this  we  may  reply  that  these  writings  are 
not  the  unbiassed  opinions  of  neighbors  but  the 
calumnies  of  enemies,  who,  attacking  and  mur- 
dering the  Lithuanians,  received  from  them  the 
same  treatment.  We  have  reports  concerning 
the  character  of  Lithuanians  and  their  civiliza- 
tion of  those  days  from  other  more  unbiassed 
sources. 

Duesburg  writes  (Script,  rer.  prus.  I,  52) 
that  Zambia  and  particularly  Sudavia  were 
wealthy  and  thickly  populated  (opulenta  et 
populosa).     Sudavians   occupied   the  southern 


BEFORE   1200  A.  D.  7 

part  of  the  government  of  Suvalki  and  a  part 
of  Prussia  farther  to  the  west.  Adam  of 
Bremen  (De  situ  Daniae,  cap.  227),  in  the  elev- 
enth century,  and  Helmhold  (Chron.  slavor.,  I, 
cap.  i)  in  the  twelfth  century,  writing  about 
the  same  Lithuanians  and  Prussians,*  call  them 
"homines  humanissimi"  and  only  regret  that, 
although  they  are  so  good,  they  are  not  Chris- 
tians. Jornandes,  Bishop  of  the  Goths,  who 
wrote  about  the  year  550  A.  D.,  calls  the  Ais- 
tians  "pacatum  hominum  genus  omnino"  (De 
rebus  Geticis,  V,  25).  Tacitus  (Germania,  cap. 
45)  calls  the  Aistians  (those  same  Lithuanians 
and  Prussians)  peaceful  and  more  industrious 
than  the  Germans,  and  testifies  that  they  em- 
ploy themselves  in  growing  grain  and  vegeta- 
bles (frumenta  ceterosque  fructus),  and  also 
navigate  the  seas. 

The  archaeology  of  the  present  day  gives  us 
an  idea  of  the  culture  of  the  old  Lithuanian  na- 
tions. It  is  known  that  in  the  Neolithic  times 
(between  3000  and  1500  B.  C.)  all  kinds  of 
grain — barley,  rye,  and  oats — ^were  grown  in 
Lithuania  (Sitzungsberichte  d.  Altertumsgesell- 

*  Not  to  be  identified  with  the  modern  Prussians  (see  footnote, 
p.  3). 


8         THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

schaft,  "Prussia,"  1909,  Heft  22,  p.  502).  In 
the  ruins  of  Mikenai,  in  Greece  (about  1500 
B.  C.))  a  quantity  of  beads  made  of  Baltic  am- 
ber were  found.  Most  of  the  amber  is  found 
on  the  Baltic  coast,  where  was  the  home  of  the 
old  Prussians  and  Lithuanians;  a  clear  proof  of 
the  commerce  of  the  Lithuanians  with  these 
far-ofF  lands,  the  lands  of  early  culture,  if  not 
directly,  then  through  intervening  nations.  S. 
Mueller,  Schumann,  Oskar  Montelius  showed 
that  in  the  Hallstatt's  period,  in  the  first  da3^s 
of  iron  in  Europe  (1000  to  400  B.  C.)  not  only 
was  grain  grown  in  Lithuania  but  domestic 
animals  were  kept,  and  linen  as  well  as  woollen 
clothing  was  worn.  In  the  cemeteries  of  middle 
Europe  of  the  Hallstatt's  period  likewise  were 
found  ornaments  made  of  amber. 

The  archaeologists,  Tischler,  Lissauer,  Bez- 
zenberger,  and  others  show  that,  judging  by 
excavations  of  the  cemeteries  of  Lithuania  and 
Prussia,  beginning  with  the  times  of  Christ  and 
up  to  the  invasion  of  Prussia  by  the  Teutonic 
Crusaders,  the  wealth  and  culture  of  the  Lithu- 
anians stood  very  high.  The  Lithuanians  had 
weapons,  farming  and  industrial  implements, 
and   all   kinds   of  expensive   ornaments.     The 


BEFORE    1200  A.   D.  9 

number  and  variety  of  articles  found  in  the  buri- 
al-grounds are  astonishing  ("unser  Staunen  er- 
regen" — Tischler):  iron  knives,  chisels,  sickles, 
spears,  swords,  bronze  bridles,  spurs,  bracelets, 
buckles,  clasps,  glass  beads,  and  a  number  of 
gold  and  silver  ornaments.  Especially  well- 
made  things  of  bronze  and  other  metals  show  a 
highly  perfected  technic  in  metal-working  (Hey- 
deck).  Tischler  writes  that  excavations  in  the 
cemeteries  of  the  period  when  Prussian  pagan- 
ism was  coming  to  its  end — about  the  time  when 
the  Crusaders  made  their  appearance — furnish 
evidences  of  a  magnificent  Lithuanian  culture 
(Ueber  die  GHederung  der  Urgesch.  Ostpreu- 
sens,  p.  7);  and  Heydeck  asserts  that  the  Lithu- 
anian and  Prussian  culture  of  those  days  was  in 
no  way  lower  than  that  of  Teutonic  Crusaders. 
If  according  to  testimony  quoted  Lithuanians 
in  the  sixth  and  also  in  the  eleventh  centuries 
were  "pacatum  hominum  genus  omnino," 
"homines  humanissimi,"  then  they  were  not 
robbers,  nor  wildmen,  nor  were  they  living 
as  animals.  If  before  the  coming  of  Teutonic 
Crusaders  to  Prussia  Lithuanian  culture  was 
not  inferior  to  that  of  Crusaders,  then  the 
Lithuanian  culture  of  twelfth   and   thirteenth 


lo       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

centuries  could  not  have  been  low.  But  the 
continuous  wars,  during  centuries,  with  Slavs 
(Russians  and  Poles)  and  with  Germans,  and 
then  with  Tartars,  greatly  weakened  the  Lithu- 
anians, diminished  their  numbers,  destroyed 
their  material  welfare,  and  lowered  their  cul- 
ture. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION  AND 
STATE  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  VITAUTAS 

THE  Lithuanians,  according  to  archaeol- 
ogy, have  Hved  in  the  region  they 
now  occupy  for  several  thousand  years. 
The  ancient  writers  called  the  Lithuanian  na- 
tion "Aistians."  We  find  in  Ptolemy's  writ- 
ings (III,  5)  in  the  second  century  A.  D.  the 
mention  of  Gahndae  (Prussians)  and  Sudeni 
(Lithuanians)  as  the  names  of  two  Aistian 
tribes — names  later  used  among  Lithuanians. 

The  Lithuanians  did  not  take  part  in  the  mi- 
grations of  the  nations,  except  perhaps  one  or 
another  of  the  smaller  tribes  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  inhabited  territories  of  Lithuania  which 
may  have  joined  the  emigration  of  the  larger 
Teutonic  tribes.  The  cause  of  this  was  the 
state  of  the  culture  of  the  Lithuanians  at  that 
period.  The  main  occupation  of  all  the  Lith- 
uanian nation  was  agriculture,  which  always 
requires  fixed  settlements;    and  the  wealth  of 


12        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

the  nation,  stored  up  in  peace  through  many 
centuries  of  hard  labor,  could  not  be  taken  with 
them  from  one  place  to  another  after  the 
manner  of  barbarous  nomadic  tribes.  On  this 
account,  as  we  see  in  history,  the  civilized  and 
settled  nations  often  are  conquered  by  others  less 
civilized,  but  never  change  their  settlements  in 
order  to  move  away  from  the  conquerors  or  to 
conquer  another  country.  For  instance,  the 
civilization  of  Sumerians  on  the  plains  of  Meso- 
potamia in  ante-Babylonian  times  was  con- 
quered several  times  by  the  nomadic  hordes 
from  Arabia,  until  finally  these  people  had 
mixed  with  their  conquerors  and  accepted 
their  Semitic\  language;  the  civihzation  of 
Greece  and  Rome  was  destroyed  by  the  bar- 
baric Teutons  (Germans);  the  little  kingdoms 
of  Chanaan  were  conquered  by  the  nomadic 
Hebrews;  and  the  great  civilized  Chinese  Em- 
pire was  conquered  by  the  Mongolians. 

During  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era  the  Lithuanian  nations  had  intimate  deal- 
ings with  the  German  Goths.  This  is  shown 
by  the  various  words,  with  a  Gothic  stem,  which 
are  found  in  the  Prussian  and  Lithuanian  lan- 
guages.     Until  the   tenth    century  the   Lithu- 


TO  THE   DEATH  OF  VITAUTAS     13 

anian  nations  lived  without  larger  political  or- 
ganization. The  one  thing  in  common  was  the 
same  faith,  similar  language,  and  the  same 
customs.  But  during  the  tenth  century  the 
Slavs  began  to  harass  the  peaceful  Lithuanians 
from  the  south  and  east  and  this  forced  them  to 
form  military  organizations  under  the  leader- 
ship of  their  Dukes-Kunigas.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  we  see  from  chron- 
icles that  in  Lithuania  proper,  not  including 
Prussia,  there  were  about  twenty  powerful 
Dukes. 

Duke  Mindaugas  (Mindove)  was  the  first  to 
organize  the  greater  part  of  the  Lithuanian 
territories  in  one  state.  He  was  the  first  author 
of  the  Lithuanian  state  and  the  first  organizer 
of  the  Lithuanian  nation. 

Mindaugas  did  not  succeed,  however,  in 
uniting  all  the  nation.  There  remained  Jac- 
vingi  in  the  south  and  Samogitians  in  the 
west  who  were  not  under  his  domain.  He 
pushed  the  boundary  in  the  east  beyond  Smo- 
lensk. His  work  of  organizing  was  delayed  by 
the  unceasing  attacks  of  the  German  hordes 
and  the  wars  with  the  Galician  Dukes,  which 
caused  his  untimely  death.     He  was  baptized 


14       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

a  Catholic;  received  the  King's  crown  from 
Pope  Innocent  IV,  becoming  the  King  of 
Lithuania  in  the  year  1253  A.  D.  He  died  in 
1263,  treacherously  assassinated  during  a  cam- 
paign, just  when  he  had  arranged  everything 
for  the  hberation  of  Samogithians  from  the  op- 
pression of  the  Teutonic  Order  of  Crusaders  and 
for  uniting  them  under  his  rule. 

After  the  death  of  Mindaugas  a  quarrel 
arose  among  the  local  Dukes  in  Lithuania,  but 
the  idea  of  a  Grand  Duke  proved  to  be  ineradi- 
cable. Chaos  did  not  cease  until  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  From  1315  to  1340 
Gediminas  ruled  as  the  Grand  Duke.  Lithu- 
ania had  become  so  strong  a  nation  during  his 
reign  that  all  the  neighboring  states  had  to 
acknowledge  Gediminas.  He  united  the  entire 
nation  except  the  Lithuanians  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Niemen  and  by  the  river  Pregel,  who  were 
for  a  long  time  under  the  rule  of  the  German 
Knights.  Through  him  Lithuania  reached  her 
natural  boundaries  in  the  south  and  east  to  the 
rivers  Pripet  and  Dnieper. 

The  aim  of  the  heirs  of  Gediminas  should 
have  been  to  collect  all  of  Lithuania's  strength, 
to  overpower  both  Teutonic  knightly  Orders, 


TO  THE  DEATH  OF  VITAUTAS     15 

to  free  the  Lithuanian  neighbors,  Letts  and 
Prussians,  to  unite  all  into  one  state.  The 
nation  as  it  was  left  by  Gediminas  was  suffi- 
ciently powerful  to  accomplish  these  aims.  The 
Prussians  and  the  Letts  from  the  very  time  of 
their  subjection  to  the  German  Knights  re- 
volted more  than  once  against  them.  Shortly 
after  Gediminas's  death  all  the  Letts  revolted 
against  the  Germans.  It  was  the  most  sue 
cessful  revolt;  with  a  few  exceptions  all  the 
towns  were  taken  by  the  Letts.  By  the  de- 
struction of  the  Livonian  Order  and  the  free- 
ing of  the  Letts  the  expulsion  of  the  German 
Order  from  Prussia  would  have  been  assured. 
But  the  Lithuanians  did  not  lend  a  hand  to 
their  kinsmen,  the  Letts;  the  German  Knights 
from  Prussia  came  to  assist  their  brother 
Knights  in  Riga,  and  they  both  suppressed  the 
revolt. 

The  successor  of  Gediminas,  Algirdas,  made 
a  capital  error  by  not  envisaging  his  true  ob- 
jective. Instead  of  occupying  for  Lithuania 
the  seashore  from  the  Vistula  to  the  Narva  and 
uniting  the  Prussians  and  Letts  to  Lithuania, 
and  thus  strengthening  the  foundation  of  the 
state  by  nations  of  the  same  race  and  similar 


i6        THE   LITHUANIAN  NATION 

language,  he  deputed  his  brother,  the  knightly 
Kestutis,  to  protect  Lithuania  with  the  Samo- 
gitians  from  the  robber  Orders,  while  he  him- 
self turned  all  the  remaining  strength  of  the 
state  to  the  east  against  the  Slavs  and  Tar- 
tars. True,  b}'  his  victories  he  made  Lithuania 
a  great  empire,  which  covered  almost  half  of 
modern  Russia,  extending  from  the  Baltic  to 
the  Black  Seas,  but  bv  doing  this  he  renounced 
nearly  half  the  nations  of  the  Lithuanian  race 
and  part  of  it,  the  Prussians,  he  left  to  per- 
dition. On  the  other  hand,  he  brought  into  the 
state  a  greater  proportion  of  foreigners  than  of 
his  own  people  and  placed  the  Lithuanian  na- 
tion in  peril  of  becoming  a  non-Lithuanian 
state. 

The  son  of  Algirdas  and  his  successor,  Jagela 
(Jagello),  committed  a  great  political  error,  if 
we  may  so  mildly  define  his  dealings  with  the 
Lithuanian  state.  The  neighbors,  the  Poles, 
of  that  time  were  ruled  by  a  Queen,  a  j^oung 
maiden,  Hedwig.  The  Poles  under  the  reign 
of  Louis  the  Hungarian  had  gained  such  ex- 
perience by  electing  the  ruler  of  another  nation 
their  King  as  to  know  that  if  he  continues  to 
live  in  his  former  state  their  nation  is  at  best 


TO  THE   DEATH  OF  VITAUTAS     17 

as  one  without  a  King,  and  uprisings  result,  I 
say  at  best,  for  the  result  may  be  more  serious: 
for  instance,  the  territory  may  fall  under  the 
influence  of  another  nation  and  may  lose  its 
independence. 

The  Polish  magnates  gave  their  Princess 
Hedwig's  hand  in  marriage  to  Jagela  (Jagello) 
on  condition  that  he  be  King  of  the  Poles. 
The  duty  of  the  King  of  the  Poles  was  to  be 
King  of  the  Poles  only,  that  is,  to  live  in  Cra- 
cow, Poland,  and  to  unite  Lithuania  to  Poland; 
to  be  definite,  this  meant  that  Lithuania  would 
be  annexed  to  Poland  as  a  Polish  province.  This 
appeared  to  Jagela  a  small  price,  for  as  King  of 
Poland  he  would  also  govern  the  provinces. 
To  introduce  the  Catholic  faith  into  Lithuania 
v/as  demanded  by  ordinary  political  wisdom, 
for  Poland  being  a  Catholic  nation  would  be 
stronger  if  all  her  provinces  should  have  one 
and  the  same  faith.  That  it  was  not  an  ideal- 
istic task  to  destroy  paganism  in  Lithuania  we 
gather  from  this,  that  various  later  privileges, 
for  instance,  the  citizenship  of  Lithuania,  were 
granted  to  Catholics  only  and  the  Lithuanians 
of  the  Eastern  rite  (orthodox)  were  not  granted 
this  privilege  and  were  forbidden  even  to  enter 


1 8       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

into  matrimonial  relationship  with  Catholics. 
Jagela  agreed,  and  for  the  kingdom  of  Poland 
he  gave  the  Poles  his  native  country,  Lithuania, 
founded  by  the  works  of  the  great  leaders, 
Algirdas  and  Gediminas,  his  father  and  grand- 
father, and  by  the  blood  of  Lithuanians.  Hav- 
ing been  crowned  King  of  the  Poles,  but  not  of 
the  Lithuanians,  and  having  settled  in  Poland, 
Jagela  appointed  a  Viceroy  to  rule  Lithuania, 
and  even  stationed  a  Polish  garrison  in  Vilna. 
To  call  the  ruler  of  a  nation  a  traitor  is  not 
befitting,  and  as  it  did  not  seem  possible  to  the 
Lithuanians  of  those  times,  but  that  they  thus 
understood  the  act  of  Jagela  we  see  from  the 
fact  that  they  arose  against  the  King's  Viceroy, 
wishing  to  give  the  throne  of  Lithuania  to 
Vitautas,  their  leader,  and  by  this  to  show  that 
they  acknowledged  Jagela  as  having  been  de- 
prived of  the  Grand  Duke's  office.  Jagela  was 
forced  to  recognize  Vitautas  as  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Lithuania;  with  Poland  there  was  left 
only  an  agreement  of  mutual  assistance  in  case 
of  war.  The  reign  of  Vitautas  (i  392-1430)  con- 
stitutes the  period  of  the  greatest  manifesta- 
tion of  Lithuanian  power  abroad.  He  combined 
into  one  powerful  state  the  whole  empire  of 


TO  THE  DEATH  OF  VITAUTAS     19 

Algirdas  and  all  the  Lithuanian  dukedoms;  the 
authority  of  Grand  Duke  he  made  autocratic, 
even  toward  the  magnates.  In  the  very  be- 
ginning of  his  reign  opposition  was  made  by 
the  more  influential  Dukes;  but  the  more  dan- 
gerous of  these  he  dispossessed,  and  those  re- 
maining were  forced  bHndly  to  obey  his  orders. 
Having  strengthened  his  power  at  home  he 
wanted  to  unite  the  Russians  and  their  lords, 
the  Tartars,  to  Lithuania;  but  he  was  utterly 
defeated  by  the  Tartars  at  Vorskla  in  1399. 
Hedwig,  wife  of  Jagela,  died  in  that  year.  The 
Poles,  receiving  no  benefit  from  Jagela,  their 
King  through  marriage  to  Hedwig,  could  have 
removed  him  from  the  rulership  of  Poland;  but 
this  would  have  caused  Vitautas  uneasiness, 
for  Jagela  might  then  have  become  a  pretender 
to  the  Lithuanian  throne,  and  so,  to  assist  him, 
Vitautas,  in  1401,  made  a  treaty  by  which  he 
acknowledged  Jagela  his  successor  to  the  throne 
of  Lithuania. 

Shortly  after  the  Vorskla  defeat  Vitautas 
succeeded  in  strengthening  his  power,  and  by 
his  diplomacy  he  so  managed  that  the  Tartars 
were  kept  as  his  vassals  during  his  reign;  he 
kept  their  Khans  under  his  protection  and  they 


20       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

accorded  him  their  mihtary  support.  Now  he 
set  his  face  against  the  deadly  enemies  of 
Lithuania  in  the  west,  the  Teutonic  Knights 
of  the  Cross.  Within  a  few  years  he  collected 
his  forces  for  the  decisive  war.  It  was  difficult 
for  him  to  induce  the  Poles  to  wage  war,  but 
the  Knights  of  the  Cross  themselves  helped 
him  in  that  respect  by  attacking  the  Poles. 
Finally  Jagela  declared  war.  Vitautas  drew 
not  only  the  Lithuanians  into  this  war  but  the 
Russians,  the  Tartars,  and  hired  the  army  of 
the  Czechs  from  western  Europe.  He  even 
helped  the  Poles  by  sending  them  necessary 
provisions  for  the  war.  The  battle  was  fought 
at  Gruenwald  and  Tanenberg  in  Prussia  (1410). 
Vitautas  arranged  the  armies  for  battle.  He 
was  the  most  active  leader  in  the  battle,  and  by 
his  strategy  victory  was  won.  The  power  of 
the  Teutonic  Order  was  crushed. 

If  this  victory  had  been  made  the  most  of, 
the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  the  Cross  would 
have  been  completely  destro3'^ed.  But  the  Poles 
occupying  the  Prussian  cities  immediately 
united  with  Poland,  and  by  their  greediness 
forced  Vitautas  to  opposite  action.  Vitautas 
himself  saved  the  Order  from  utter  ruin  by  not 


TO  THE   DEATH  OF  VITAUTAS    21 

assisting  the  Poles  to  wage  war,  and  while  tak- 
ing part  in  the  treaty  of  Thorn  he  arranged 
the  easiest  terms  possible  for  the  Order.  He 
had  to  contend  with  the  Poles  in  the  future, 
who  continuously  exhibited  pretensions  to- 
ward the  state  of  Lithuania.  He  did  not  wish 
the  Poles  to  grow  considerably  in  strength. 
The  Order  was  necessary  to  him  in  his  relations 
with  the  Poles. 

On  October  2,  141 3,  an  important  union  was 
made  in  Horodlo  between  the  Lithuanians  and 
the  Poles  by  which  both  parties  remained 
equal;  both  promised  at  the  death  of  either 
ruler  to  elect  a  new  one  in  his  place.  At  the 
death  of  a  PoHsh  King  his  successor  was  to  be 
elected  by  the  Polish  magnates  together  with 
the  magnates  of  Lithuania  and  their  Grand 
Duke;  and,  vice  versa,  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Lithuania  was  to  be  elected  by  the  Lithuanian 
magnates  together  with  the  magnates  of  Po- 
land and  their  King.  Here  the  rights  of  both 
were  equal.  Lithuania  was  second  by  title 
only;  Poland  was  a  kingdom,  Lithuania  a 
grand  duchy.  In  a  protocol,  Lithuania  as  a 
duchy  was  joined  to  Poland,  a  kingdom.  Lithu- 
ania's title  was  lower,  although  that  duchy  was 


22       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

thrice  larger  than  the  Polish  Kingdom  and 
much  more  powerful.  But  in  the  opinion  of 
those  times  the  title  meant  much.  This  join- 
ing of  their  country  to  a  foreign  country  the 
Lithuanians,  as  their  attitude  in  the  near  future 
showed,  did  not  consider  seriously. 

At  the  end  of  his  reign,  having  no  son  as  an 
heir  who  should  insure  Lithuania's  indepen- 
dence, making  her  in  all  things  equal  to  Poland, 
Vitautas  decided  to  crown  himself  as  King  of 
Lithuania;  but  the  act  of  coronation  did  not 
occur,  as  robbers  sent  by  the  Polish  politicians 
opposing  Vitautas  took  away  the  crown,  which 
was  being  carried  to  Vitautas  by  the  emissaries 
of  the  Emperor  Sigismund,  and  Vitautas  died 
suddenly  during  the  festivities  of  his  coro- 
nation. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  POLES  WHICH  BEGAN 
UNDER  GRAND  DUKE  JAGELA;  THE  RULERS  OF 
THE  SAME  LITHUANIAN  DYNASTY  FOR  BOTH 
STATES;  THE  LONG-CONTINUED  PERSONAL 
UNION  OF  BOTH  STATES  REPEATEDLY  RE- 
NEWED; ALLIANCES  WITH  POLAND  CON- 
TRACTED MANY  TIMES;  WEAKENING  OF  THE 
SUPREME  POV/ER  OF  GOVERNMENT  IN  LITHU- 
ANIA BY  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  POLISH  STATES 
LAWS;  THE  SPREAD  OF  POLONIZATION  IN  LITHU- 
ANIA AND  WITH  IT  THE  DEMORALIZATION  OF 
THE  NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS  OF  THE  LITHU- 
ANIAN PEOPLE.  THE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THESE 
RELATIONS  IS  THE  POLISH-LITHUANIAN  UNION 
AT  LUBLIN 

THE  Lithuanian  magnates  did  not  desire 
the  union  that  was  madebyjagela  and 
Vitautas  at  the  instigation  of  Poles,  and 
at  the  first  opportunity  they  showed  that  they 
did  not  acknowledge  it. 

After  the  death  of  Vitautas  the  Lithuanians, 
disregarding  the  Horodlo  union,  elected  as 
their  Grand  Duke,  in  1430,  Svitrigaila  with- 
out the  PoHsh  participation  and  against  their 

23 


24       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

wishes.  Svitrigaila  did  not  acknowledge  the 
union  during  all  his  reign,  and  even  made 
King  Jagela  a  prisoner  because  the  Poles 
took  some  cities  of  Podolia.  He  released  Ja- 
gela only  after  his  promise  to  restore  those 
cities  to  Lithuania. 

His  rival  for  power,  Sigismund,  son  of  Kes- 
tutis,  in  order  to  obtain  the  Polish  aid  in  the 
war  with  Svitrigaila,  renewed  the  union  in 
1432;  but  this  union  was  broken  by  the 
Lithuanians  after  the  death  of  Sigismund, 
son  of  Kestutis,  when  they  elected  as  their 
Grand  Duke,  Casimir,  son  of  Jagela.  And 
so  it  went  on:  the  union  was  continually  being 
patched  up  by  the  Poles  and  always,  at  the 
first  opportunity,  it  was  broken  by  the  Lithu- 
anians. Sometimes  during  the  reign  of  the 
same  ruler  these  unions  were  made  several 
times,  and  there  were  innumerable  quarrels 
between  Lithuanians  and  Poles  at  the  special 
conventions  called  expressly  for  the  forma- 
tion of  these  unions.  That  was  so  until  the 
last  union  at  Lublin  in  1569. 

The  Poles  wanted  a  complete  union  of 
Lithuania  and  Poland  by  the  conversion  of 
Lithuania  into  a  Polish  province.     This  they 


1430-1569  25 

expressed  openly  at  the  convention  at  Lublin 
in  1448;  they  proposed  to  make  of  both  states 
one  Polish  Kingdom;  to  make  of  Lithuania 
a  Polish  province,  the  Lithuanians  to  become 
Polish  subjects  on  the  same  footing  as  true 
Poles;  all  the  gentry  to  enjoy  the  same  priv- 
ileges. The  Lithuanians,  on  the  contrary,  did 
not  wish  to  renounce  the  independence  of  their 
state;  they  only  agreed  to  an  alliance  with  Po- 
land and  to  the  defensive  bond  against  their 
foes. 

But  the  continual  proposals  by  the  Poles 
of  union,  the  personal  union  with  Poland  of 
a  hundred  years,  except  for  two  intervals,  the 
weakening  of  the  government  in  Lithuania  by 
the  privileges  of  the  gentry,  the  long-established 
relations  of  Lithuanian  and  the  Polish  gentry, 
accomplished  its  purpose:  the  Polish  designs 
upon  the  independent  prerogatives  of  Lithuania 
as  a  separate  state  were  partly  successful. 

The  Polish  magnates  were  very  anxious  to 
gain  possession  of  lands  in  Lithuania,  but  the 
laws  of  Lithuania  denied  ownership  to  for- 
eigners. Importunate  demands  by  Poles  that 
Lithuanians   give   them   Volinia    and    Podolia, 


26       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

their  nearest  and  most  fertile  lands,  resulted; 
and  when  the  Lithuanians  refused  so  to  diminish 
their  state,  the  Poles  demanded  the  abolition 
of  the  boundary  between  Poland  and  Lithuania. 
Here  lies  the  true  significance  of  the  continual 
PoHsh  demands  to  unite  Lithuania  to  Poland. 
We  find  that  having  obtained  at  the  Lubhn 
union  the  most  fertile  lands  of  Lithuania,  all 
territory  south  of  the  Pripet  River,  the  Poles 
no  longer  approach  the  Lithuanians  with  proj- 
ects for  new  unions. 

After  the  death  of  King  Vladislaus  III  in 
1444,  the  Poles  invited  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Lithuania,  Casimir,  son  of  Jagela,  to  be  their 
King.  Only  after  three  years  did  the  Lithu- 
anians grant  him  permission  to  go  to  Poland; 
and  for  forty-five  years,  till  his  death  in  1492, 
they  remained  without  their  ruler.  In  this 
policy  the  Polish  politicians  must  have  seen 
the  easiest  way  to  extinguish  the  separate  rule 
in  Lithuania;  for,  as  they  proclaimed  as  their 
King  every  Grand  Duke  elected  by  the  Lithu- 
anians, they  deprived  Lithuania  of  a  ruler. 
Polish  privileges  were  constituted  a  bait  with 
which  the  Poles  caught  Lithuanian  noblemen, 
and  kept  them  attached  to  themselves;   a  most 


1430-1569  27 

successful  policy  to  render  Lithuania  power- 
less, and  thus  to  sweep  aside  all  her  opposition, 
although  used  perhaps  unwittingly  by  the 
Poles  only  to  weaken  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  state. 

The  first  privileges  were  accorded  to  Lithu- 
anian noblemen  by  Jagela  in  1387.  In  the 
union  of  141 3  those  privileges  were  confirmed: 
the  ownership  of  large  estates;  the  release 
from  all  active  duties  toward  the  Grand  Duke, 
excepting  war  service,  and  that  of  restoring 
the  fortified  cities;  the  right  to  take  part  in 
the  council  of  the  Grand  Duke,  and  to  choose 
a  ruler — the  occupation  of  the  throne  was  now 
to  be  determined  by  election.  These  rights 
served  as  a  constitution  for  the  country.  At 
first  they  were  given  to  the  Catholics,  although 
under  Sigismund,  son  of  Kestutis,  they  were 
extended  among  the  Orthodox;  but  later  the 
Orthodox  were  always  isolated  and  wronged. 
This  separation  between  Catholics  and  Ortho- 
dox had  sown  antagonism  in  Lithuania  be- 
tween the  Catholic  and  the  Orthodox  citi- 
zens; and  from  this  had  arisen  in  a  short  time 
a  civil  war  between  Svitrigaila  and  the  ad- 
herents of  Sigismund — in  truth,  between  the 


28        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

parties  of  the  Catholics  and  Russians.  Later 
it  served  the  Russians  as  a  pretext  to  cHng  to 
Moscow. 

Every  later  Grand  Duke  or  King  distributed 
new  privileges  in  order  to  keep  himself  on  both 
thrones — for  example,  by  the  renunciation  of 
fees,  the  state  collected  for  the  peasants  be- 
longing to  noblemen;  by  the  gift  to  the  land- 
owners of  the  right  to  administer  justice  to 
their  peasants  and  to  exact  the  pecuniary  penal- 
ties; by  forbidding  peasants  to  possess  land, 
and  so  benefiting  of  noblemen;  by  the  inter- 
diction of  children  of  bond-slaves  from  at- 
tending schools  and  learning  trades. 

These  privileges  were  diminishing  the  Grand 
Duke's  power  and  wealth  by  making  noble- 
men the  absolute  lords  over  their  subject  peas- 
ants. About  1550  slavery  in  Lithuania  and 
Russia  had  already  reached  its  highest  degree: 
in  some  places  the  peasants  had  to  work  for 
their  masters  six  days  a  week,  and  they  be- 
longed entirely  to  them.  The  nobleman  did 
with  the  peasant  slave  as  he  wished,  and  took 
from  him  what  he  wished.  Within  twenty- 
six  years  after  the  union  of  Lublin,  there  arose  in 
the  Russian  Provinces  of  Lithuania  a  formida- 


1430-1569  29 

ble  insurrection  of  slaves  against  noblemen,  the 
insurrection  of  Nalivaika  in  1595. 

These  privileges  made  peasants  always  more 
dependent  on  the  noblemen,  and  the  noble- 
men always  less  dependent  on  the  supreme 
government  of  the  state.  After  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  Grand  Duke's  wealth  and  income, 
the  treasury  of  Lithuania  was  empty.  Before 
the  Lublin  union,  the  Lithuanian  minister 
of  finances,  Paul  Naruszevicz,  complained  to 
the  King  that  the  Lithuanian  treasury  needed 
immediate  help  as  means  were  lacking  to  keep 
the  fortresses  on  the  boundary-line  and  their 
garrisons.  There  was  no  income  in  the  treasury; 
he  himself  had  even  pawned  his  estates  and 
loaned  money  wherever  possible.  There  were 
no  means  to  keep  up  the  army;  to  defend  the 
borders  of  the  state;  to  punish  wrong-doers. 
The  state  organization  and  discipline  created 
by  the  works  of  Gediminas,  Algirdas,  and  Vitau- 
tas  was  destroyed  by  the  Polish  unions  and  the 
privileges;  anarchy  was  spreading.  This  dis- 
organization was  encouraged  by  the  fact  that 
Lithuania  actually  was  without  a  ruler.  The 
Grand  Duke  resided  in  Poland,  and  was  in- 
terested in  Lithuania's   affairs  only  so  far  as 


30       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

to  distribute  to  his  Polish  favorites  the  estates 
in  Lithuania — the  Lithuanian  offices  or  towns. 

During  this  time  the  Poles  were  trying  by 
various  means  to  force  themselves  into  Lithu- 
ania. Polonism  was  spreading  more  and  more 
among  Lithuanians,  and  began  to  undermine 
Lithuanian  nationalism. 

At  the  convention  in  Brest,  in  1542  and 
1544,  the  Lithuanians  complained  to  King 
Sigismund  I  that  the  government  offices  in 
the  Lithuanian  and  Russian  provinces  were 
distributed  among  the  Poles.  The  greater 
part  of  the  clergy  in  Lithuania  at  that  time 
were  Poles:  the  religious  orders  were  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  provincials  in  Poland.  At 
the  same  time  there  was  in  Lithuania  the 
greatest  religious  anarchy.  The  Polish  or 
Polonized  priests  it  seems  were  endeavoring 
to  locate  themselves  in  Lithuania,  but  were 
not  taking  the  trouble  to  learn  the  Lithuanian 
language  but  simply  scorned  it.  They  preached 
in  Polish  to  the  Lithuanian-speaking  people.* 
What  the  condition  of  the  Catholic  faith  was 
among  the  people  we  may  see  from  the  letter 

*  Postilla  Katholicke  per  Kun.  M.  Dauksa,  Wilniiii,  1599,  vide 
preface. 


1430-1569  31 

of  the  saintly  bishop  of  Varniai,  Melchior  Gie- 
draitis,  1576  A.  D.,  who  wrote  to  the  superior 
of  the  Jesuits  asking  that  he  send  to  him  at 
least  a  few  priests  who  were  able  to  speak 
Lithuanian,  as  in  the  greater  part  of  his  diocese 
the  people  not  only  did  not  know  the  "Our 
Father,"  nor  how  to  bless  themselves,  nor 
even  to  what  faith  they  belonged.* 

Protestantism,  which  began  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  reign  of  King  Sigismund,  spread 
from  Poland  into  Lithuania,  and  during  the 
time  of  Sigismund  August,  reached  its  highest 
pinnacle.  Only  the  smaller  part  of  the  clergy 
in  some  parts  of  Lithuania  remained  Catholic. 
There  sprung  up  several  sects  of  Protestantism 
patronized  by  different  magnates;  each  sect 
disturbed  all  the  others.  The  people  not  know- 
ing whom  to  believe,  and  not  understanding 
the  Catholic  faith,  in  many  places  returned  to 
paganism,  and  again  started  the  holy  fires  to 
the  pagan  god  Pekunas  on  the  summits  of  the 
hills.  The  Polish  order,  the  PoHsh  speech, 
and  the  Polish  customs  spread  in  Lithuania, 
not  because  of  any  superior  Polish  culture  or 

*  Lithuanicarum   Soc.   Jesu   historiarum   libri   decern   auctore 
Stanislos  RostOTski,  Wilna,  1768. 


32       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

civilization;  from  the  beginning  the  speech, 
customs,  and  methods  of  Lithuania  were  in 
no  degree  inferior.* 

The  Lithuanians,  having  acquired  so  much 
Slavic  territory  in  such  a  short  time,  found  it 
impossible  to  impose  on  the  inhabitants  the 
Lithuanian  language.  The  whole  Lithuanian 
class,  not  excepting  Grand  Dukes,  who  were  to 
govern  the  conquered  territories,  were  obliged 
to  learn  the  Russian  (White  Russian)  language,, 
and  being  continually  among  foreigners  be- 
came Slavonized.  When  after  the  transfer  of 
the  Grand  Duke's  court  to  Cracow,  Lithuanian 
aristocracy  was  compelled  to  mix  with  the 
Poles,  its  members,  knowing  the  Russian  lan- 
guage, which  is  similar  to  Polish,  and  being 
used  to  foreign  customs  and  also  to  the  foreign 
language,  were  Polonized  with  greater  rapid- 
ity than  the  Slavs  or  Russians;  so  that  the  con- 
quests in  Russia  prepared  the  Lithuanian  aris- 

*  The  Catholic  Encyclopaedia,  vol.  12,  p.  184,  states  that  at 
the  time  of  Kazimcr  the  Great,  who  died  in  1370,  the  clergy  was 
the  only  educated  class  in  Poland.  Writing  of  the  battle  of 
Gruenwald,  the  author  of  the  article  deems  it  necessary  to  men- 
tion the  following:  "Until  then  Poland  had  been  looked  upon  as 
a  semi-civilized  country,  where  the  natives  were  little  better 
than  savages,  and  culture  was  represented  by  the  German  clergy 
and  colonists." 


1430-1569  33 

tocracy  for  a  hastier  Polonization.  The  first 
and  main  cause  of  the  spread  of  Polonism  in 
Lithuania  was  the  transfer  of  the  Grand  Duke's 
court  to  Poland.  With  the  Polonization  of  the 
aristocracy  through  the  court  of  the  Grand 
Duke,  the  lesser  gentry  at  home  followed  their 
example  in  speech  and  other  matters.  Still  fur- 
ther, the  Polonization  of  the  Lithuanians  was 
advanced  in  the  churches.  The  Lithuanian 
writer  of  those  times,  M.  Dauksza,  in  his  pos- 
tilla,  published  in  1599,  complains  of  the 
scorning  of  the  Lithuanian  language  by  the 
upper  class. 

To  such  a  peril  Lithuania  came,  while  the 
nobility  was  rejoicing  over  their  Polish  privi- 
leges and  the  aristocracy  loaned  their  Grand 
Duke  to  the  Poles  as  a  King.  At  home  in  Lithu- 
ania there  was  no  ruler.  The  wealth  of  the 
Grand  Duke,  identical  with  that  of  the  state, 
was  distributed  and  the  treasury  was  empty, 
for  the  taxes  had  been  renounced  in  favor  of  the 
nobility.  The  enemy,  generally  Moscow,  threat- 
ened Lithuania.  The  Polish  King,  though  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  looked  only  after 
the  interests  of  Poland.  Instead  of  defending 
Lithuania   he   knew   only   how   to   advise   the 


34        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

Lithuanian  Convention  that  Lithuanians  in- 
stead of  waging  war  should  make  one  additional 
union  with  the  Poles;  so  did  Casimir,  son  of  Ja- 
gela,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Moscovites  occupy- 
ing Novgorod,  in  1478.  Therefore  the  Grand 
Dukes  of  Lithuania  were  only  Polish  Kings; 
they  did  not  reside  in  Lithuania,  and  were 
solicitous  only  about  Poland.  Every  one  of 
them  made  assignments  presenting  Lithuania 
to  Poland  and  forced  the  Lithuanian  magnates 
to  sign  these  unions;  the  acknowledgment  of 
Lithuanian  delegates  at  the  convention  for  the 
union  in  Parczevo,  1451,  supports  this. 

So  did  even  the  last  of  those  who  for  years 
wore,  unworthily,  the  Grand  Duke  Vitautas's 

crown. 

*     *     * 

The  efforts  of  the  Poles,  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  reign  of  Sigismund  August,  to 
make  one  more  union,  were  not  successful  until 
in  1562  the  Polonized  Lithuanian  and  Russian 
small  gentry  formed  a  federation  in  the  war 
camp  near  Vitebsk  for  the  purpose  of  a  com- 
plete union  of  Lithuania  with  Poland,  so  that 
they  might  be  equal  in  all  privileges  to  the 
Polish   gentry.     To   satisfy   their   desire   they 


1430-1569  35 

abandoned  the  Lithuanian  aristocracy  and 
went  over  to  the  Polish  side.  At  the  Diet  of 
Lublin  in  1569,  when,  after  lengthy  discussions 
since  January,  the  last  loyal  Lithuanians  went 
home  on  the  ist  of  March,  these  conspirators 
against  the  independence  of  Lithuania  peti- 
tioned the  King  that  he,  relying  solely  on  their 
consent,  affirm  the  union  according  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Poles.  At  the  demands  of  the 
Poles  that  Podlachia  and  Volinia  be  turned 
over  to  them,  the  King,  on  the  12th  of  March, 
published  a  proclamation  which  gave  these 
two  Lithuanian  provinces  to  Poland.  The 
magnates  of  Podlachia  and  Volinia,  Dukes 
Czarotoryski,  Ostrozski,  Visznewski,  and  Os- 
taphius  Volovicz,  resisted,  but  receiving  no 
help  from  Lithuania  and  under  penalty  of  be- 
ing dispossessed  swore  their  allegiance  to  Po- 
land. The  Lithuanian  aristocracy,  after  break- 
ing away  from  the  convention,  sent  out  a  war 
proclamation  to  all  Lithuania,  in  order  to  main- 
tain b}^  arms  the  independence  of  their  coun- 
try. On  March  23  the  Poles  also  announced 
"pospolite  ruszenie,"  mobilization.  At  the  de- 
mands of  the  Poles  by  the  other  proclamation 
of  June  5  the  King  gave  to  Poland  the  provinces 


36       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

of  Kiev  and  Braclav.  The  magnates  of  Lithu- 
ania, seeing  that  war  was  impossible,  as  the 
state  funds  from  taxes  had  been  distributed 
and  the  treasury  was  empty,  and  the  Polonized 
gentry  refusing  to  support  war  against  the 
Poles,  even  threatening  revolt,  they  sent  back 
their  delegates  who  on  July  I  signed  the  union 
demanded  by  the  Poles. 

By  this  last  union  Lithuania  and  Poland  were 
united  forever.  There  was  henceforth  one 
ruler  for  both,  at  the  same  time  Polish  King  and 
Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania;  one  convention  for 
common  interests.  The  treaties  with  foreign 
states  were  made  by  both  parties.  But  the  ad- 
ministration, laws  and  courts,  army,  and  trea- 
sury remained  separate. 

This  union  truly  accomplished  more  than 
any  former  one.  It  tore  away  from  Lithuania 
and  gave  to  Poland  all  Russian  land  south  of 
the  Pripet  River.  By  acquiring  this  territory 
Poland  was  more  than  doubled  and  Lithuania 
was  reduced  to  the  boundaries  of  Gedimin. 

The  Poles  finally  received  from  Lithuania 
such  desirable  Russian  lands  that  they  did 
not  suggest  any  further  union;  therefore,  this 
Lublin  union  was  the  last. 


1430-1569  37 

But  the  Lithuanians  received  this  union 
as  former  unions.  Soon  after  the  death  of 
King  August  the}^  endeavored  to  secure  a 
separate  ruler,  and  invited  Theodor,  the  son  of 
John  IV  of  Moscow,  to  be  their  Grand  Duke; 
but  the  Czar  promised  to  be  ruler  of  Lithuania 
in  place  of  his  son.  Then  the  Lithuanians  with- 
drew. Failing  to  procure  a  separate  ruler  the 
Lithuanian  Convention  of  Vilna  sent  a  delega- 
tion (Christopher  Radziwill)  to  Paris  to  Henry 
of  Valois,  who  had  been  lately  elected  Polish 
King. 

The  Lithuanians  asked  him  to  be  at  the 
same  time  the  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  with 
the  condition  that  he  do  not  decrease  the 
independence  of  Lithuania  and  return  to  her 
the  provinces  seized  by  Poland.  From  that 
time  Lithuania  and  Poland  always  had  one 
ruler  for  both. 


191708 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  JURISTIC  APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE  BONDS  BE- 
TWEEN LITHUANIAN  AND  POLISH  STATES 
WHICH  EXISTED  BEFORE  AND  AFTER  THE 
UNION  OF  LUBLIN 

BY  what  legal  terms  of  our  time  can  we 
describe  the  bonds  between  Lithuania 
and  Poland  before  the  union  of  LubHn 
and  those  existing  after  that  union  ?  It  would 
not  suffice  only  to  examine  the  words  of  the 
protocol  of  this  or  that  union  as  well  as  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  of  the  Lublin  union  of 
1569,  for  we  have  seen  that  the  Lithuanians 
were  not  disposed  to  observe  these  unions 
strictly.  We  would  do  better  to  remark  in 
the  course  of  history  how  these  agreements 
were  observed  by  both  sides.  This  will  show 
us  not  only  the  relations  desired  by  either  side, 
which  were  written  into  the  agreement,  but 
the  relations  that  existed  in  fact  between  the 
two  states. 

The   Poles   would    like   to   call   Lithuania   a 
38 


APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE   BONDS    39 

Polish  province.  They  maintain  that  Jagela 
gave  Lithuania  to  the  Poles  by  the  pact  of 
1385  at  Krevo.  But  when,  soon  afterward, 
Jagela  had  ascended  the  throne  of  Poland 
and  sent  his  viceroy  to  Vilna,  the  Lithuanians 
did  not  acquiesce;  they  rose  against  him  and 
proclaimed  Vitautas  as  their  ruler.  Vitautas 
becoming  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  a 
friendly  treaty  was  made  in  Ostrova,  1392,  be- 
tween Poland  and  Lithuania.  This  treaty  we 
might  call  the  alliance  of  our  times.  There 
was  no  submission  of  Lithuania  to  Poland 
during  all  the  reign  of  Vitautas.  In  1398  the 
Poles  in  the  name  of  Hedwig  had  demanded 
from  Vitautas  the  payment  of  dues  as  ac- 
knowledgment that  Jagela  had  given  Lithu- 
ania to  Poland.  Vitautas  called  together  all 
the  Dukes  and  nobility  on  October  2,  of  the 
same  year,  1398,  proclaimed  himself  King  of 
independent  Lithuania,  and  made  a  treaty  with 
the  Crusaders  for  war  against  Poland. 

In  1401,  in  order  to  strengthen  Jagela  on 
the  Polish  throne  after  the  death  of  his  wife, 
Hedwig,  Vitautas  acknowledged  him  and  his 
successors  as  his  own  successors  on  the  Lithu- 
anian throne   by  the  treaty  of  Vilna.     This 


40        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

meant  only  the  promise  of  a  real  union.  In 
141 3,  when  the  Poles  were  importunate  about 
the  union,  a  substantial  friendly  treaty  was 
made  between  Poland  and  Lithuania,  by  which 
it  was  agreed  that  both  nations  should  elect 
together  the  rulers  of  their  separate  states. 
This  might  be  taken  to  mean  duarchy  in  the 
style  of  Rome  under  two  Emperors,  one  ruler 
to  have  the  title  of  King,  the  other  that  of 
Grand  Duke,  but  in  reality  it  was  a  shrewd 
move  on  the  part  of  Polish  politicians  to  elect 
always  the  same  ruler  for  both  states  (Horodlo 
Union).  During  the  remammg  part  of  the 
reign  of  Vitautas  this  union  proved  to  be 
** Confederation  d'Etats,"  but  very  loose,  the 
mutual  relations  of  its  parts  being  of  an  in- 
ternational character. 

After  the  death  of  Vitautas,  the  Lithuanians 
elected  their  Grand  Duke,  Svitrigaila,  without 
the  Poles,  and  by  doing  this,  they  broke  the 
Horodlo  agreement.  All  the  reign  of  Svitri- 
gaila (1430-1432)  was  hostile  to  Poland.  Sigis- 
mund,  son  of  Kestutis,  becoming  Grand  Duke 
of  Lithuania  in  1432,  the  union  of  1401  between 
Poland  and  Lithuania  was  renewed;  this  meant 
that  even  the  Poles  themselves  had  repudiated 


APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE   BONDS    41 

the  union  of  Horodlo.  In  1440  the  Lithuanians, 
by  electing  their  ruler,  Casimir,  son  of  Jagela, 
broke  the  treaty  with  the  Poles  of  1432;  in 
1447  the  Lithuanians  allowed  their  ruler,  Casi- 
mir, son  of  Jagela,  to  become  also  the  King 
of  Poland,  and  by  this  they  agreed  to  a  simple 
personal  union.  At  his  death  in  1492  the 
union  with  the  Poles  was  dissolved,  the  Lithu- 
anians electing  as  their  ruler,  Alexander,  and 
the  Poles,  John  Albrecht.  In  1499  the  treaty 
of  Horodlo  was  renewed  for  the  mutual  aid 
in  wars — that  of  Lithuania  with  Moscow  and 
that  of  the  Poles  with  the  Turks  and  Tartars. 
In  1 501  the  Poles  elected  the  Lithuanian  ruler, 
Alexander,  as  their  King;  again  there  was  a 
personal  union  until  the  death  of  Alexander 
in  1506.  When  in  October  of  that  year  the 
Lithuanians  elected  as  their  ruler  the  younger 
brother  of  Alexander,  Sigismund,  the  Poles 
hastened  to  proclaim  him  as  their  King  in 
December  of  the  same  year,  and  again  a  per- 
sonal union  subsisted. 

During  the  reign  of  Sigismund,  the  Lithu- 
anians elected  his  son,  Sigismund  August,  as 
their  Grand  Duke,  but  not  till  1544  did  the 
ruler  allow  his  son  to  take  the  reins  of  the  gov- 


42       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

ernment  in  Lithuania.  After  the  death  of 
Sigismund,  in  1548,  the  Poles  proclaimed  the 
Lithuanian  ruler,  Sigismund  August,  as  their 
King,  and  again  renewed  the  personal  union. 

Therefore,  we  see  that  the  signature  of  Ja- 
gela  in  1385  at  Krevo  was  annulled  by  the 
Lithuanians  through  the  rising  of  Vitautas, 
and  by  his  becoming  the  Grand  Duke.  Lithu- 
ania was  always  an  independent  and  sovereign 
state,  and  did  not  wish  to  resign  her  sovereignty, 
notwithstanding  the  signature  of  a  ruler  who 
broke  his  fealty  to  the  state.  Until  the  union 
of  Lublin,  Lithuania  was  never  incorporated 
with  nor  even  vassal  to  Poland:  not  one  of 
her  rulers  took  an  oath  as  vassal  of  King  of  Po- 
land, as  did  the  last  magister  of  the  Crusaders, 
Albrecht,  on  becoming  the  herzog  of  Prus- 
sia. Not  one  of  them  was  the  vicer^^y  of  the 
Polish  King,  although  the  Poles  were  demand- 
ing that  Casimir,  son  of  Jagela,  become  such. 
When  the  Lithuanians  elected  him  their  Grand 
Duke  the  Poles  themselves  were  complaining 
that  the  Lithuanians  broke  their  last  treaty 
of  1432,  and  the  Grand  Duke  Alexander  sent 
to  John  Albrecht  only  the  ordinary  congratula- 
tions of  a  friendly  neighbor,  by  no  means  a 


APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE   BONDS    43 

vassal's  submission,  when  the  Poles  elected 
the  latter  as  their  King.  From  the  very  elec- 
tion of  Jagela  as  King  of  Poland  until  the 
union  of  Lublin  the  common  tie  between  Po- 
land and  Lithuania  was  the  same  Lithuanian 
dynasty  of  Gediminas:  for  Poland  the  branch 
of  Algirdas,  and  for  Lithuania,  at  the  beginning, 
the  branch  of  Kestutis,  in  the  persons  of  Vi- 
tautas  and  Sigismund,  sons  of  Kestutis,  and 
later,  the  same  branch  of  Algirdas  for  both 
states.  All  these  unions  made  between  Poland 
and  Lithuania  during  all  those  times  were  only 
friendly  alliances — defensive  alliances — in  order 
that  one  should  help  another  in  need.  Toward 
the  end,  through  the  efforts  of  Poles  during 
the  reign  of  several  rulers,  those  alliances  be- 
came a  personal  union. 

*    *    * 

What  did  the  union  of  Lublin  accomplish  ? 
First,  it  tore  away  from  Lithuania  all  the 
southern  Russians  (Ukrainians),  and  Lithu- 
ania remained  within  the  boundaries  of  Gedi- 
minas; she  retained  only  the  territories  of  the 
Lithuanians  and  the  White  Russians. 

There  was  a  change  also  made  in  regard  to 
the  legal  standing  of  Lithuania.     But  regard- 


44       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

less  of  the  wishes  of  Poles  Lithuania  was  not 
incorporated  into  Poland,  even  after  the  union 
of  Lublin.  The  treaty  of  Lublin,  as  well  as  of 
other  unions,  in  some  of  its  parts  expresses  only 
the  desires  of  the  Poles,  which  were  not  realized 
later.  Lithuania  reserved  to  herself,  complete 
and  separate  from  Poland,  a  state  government 
such  as  she  had  before  the  union  of  Lublin;  a 
complete  administration  with  the  highest  gov- 
ernmental institutions.  This  included  the  Con- 
vention of  Lithuania  which,  after  the  union  of 
Lublin,  was  called  the  General  Convention  of 
Lithuania,  apart  from  the  common  convention 
of  both  states;  her  own  separate  code  of  laws 
(the  new  revised  third  code  of  the  Lithuanian 
statute  was  published  in  1588);  her  own  courts; 
a  separate  army  and  financial  system. 

After  the  union  of  Lublin,  therefore,  Lithu- 
ania was  not  an  autonomous  province  of  Po- 
land, but  a  sovereign  and  separate  state  as 
before.  Therefore,  after  the  union  of  Lublin 
we  find  in  Lithuania  all  the  essential  character- 
istics of  a  state;  a  separate  territory  under  the 
high  dominion  of  the  government  of  Lithuania 
and  even  the  rights  of  the  international  rela- 
tions (jus  foederum  ac  legationum). 


APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE   BONDS    45 

After  the  death  of  Sigismund  August  the 
Lithuanians  sent  a  delegation  to  Moscow  ask- 
ing the  Czar's  son  to  be  their  ruler,  and  again 
they  sent  another  delegation  to  France  invit- 
ing Henry  of  Valois  to  their  throne.  Even  the 
convention  at  Lublin  recognized  the  indepen- 
dence of  Lithuania  from  Poland  by  separating 
from  Lithuania  and  joining  to  Poland,  Podla- 
chia,  Volinia,  Podolia,  Kiev,  and  Braclav,  up  to 
that  time  Lithuanian  territories.  This  would 
not  have  been  necessary  if  Lithuania  had  be- 
come a  PoHsh  province,  as  after  the  union  of 
LubUn  Kiev  and  Volinia  became.  This  conven- 
tion of  Lublin  acknowledged  the  fact  of  a  sepa- 
rate allegiance  to  Lithuania  and  Poland.  On 
the  transference  of  these  provinces  into  Polish 
hands,  v/hen  the  union  was  being  consummated, 
the  inhabitants  were  obhged  to  take  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  Poland;  this  was  demanded  ex- 
pressly to  show  the  transition  from  the  Lithu- 
anian allegiance  to  a  Polish  allegiance — only 
states,  never  provinces,  have  a  right  to  de- 
mand the  allegiance  of  the  inhabitants  of  a 
territory.  That  Lithuania  was  not  an  auton- 
omous province  of  Poland  but  a  state  quite 
separate  from  Poland  is  shown  by  the  very 


46       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

origin  of  the  government  of  Lithuania  over 
her  territory.  Her  territory  and  the  power  of 
governing  it  Lithuania  did  not  acquire  from 
Poland,  as  Poland  did  not  possess  them  previ- 
ously; but  all  this  Lithuania  as  a  sovereign 
state  possessed  before  the  union  of  Lublin  by 
her  own  right,  and  in  entering  a  convention 
with  Poland  she  reserved  to  herself  that  terri- 
tory and  jurisdiction  over  it.  Therefore  we 
see  at  the  unfortunate  Lublin  union  that  the 
Lithuanian  delegates,  compelled  to  sign  the 
treaty  of  the  union,  on  their  knees  begged  their 
Grand  Duke  that  he  should  not  destroy  the 
independence  nor  tarnish  the  honor  of  his  own 
native  land,  Lithuania.  If  Lithuania  was  a 
sovereign  state  before  the  union  of  Lublin  and 
the  Lithuanians  did  not  wish  to  renounce  her 
independence,  then  the  question  is,  how  could 
she  become  a  Polish  province,  as  Poles  had 
never  conquered  her  ^ 

Until  the  fall  of  Poland,  therefore,  the  Lithu- 
anians considered  themselves  as  constituting  a 
separate  nation,  the  subjects  not  of  Poland  but 
of  the  supreme  Lithuanian  Government,  ex- 
pressing the  will  of  the  nation.  Before  the  actual 
subjection   of  Lithuania   to    Russia    (in    1794) 


APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE   BONDS    47 

"the  General  Confederacy  of  the  Grand  Duchy 
of  Lithuania"  speaks  of  "the  will  of  the  Lithu- 
anian nation."  Where  is  the  province  to  be 
found  that  expresses  the  will  of  the  nation  ? 
The  foreign  diplomats  even  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  knew  very  well  that  Lithu- 
ania was  not  a  part  of  Poland,  but  an  altogether 
separate  state.  Prince  V.  N.  Repnin,  former 
Russian  ambassador  in  Warsaw,  writes  to 
Dimitri  Troschinski,  a  high  Russian  official,  in 
regard  to  territories  acquired  by  Russia  after 
the  partition  of  Poland-Lithuania:  "Lithuania 
should  remain  separate  from  Poland  in  her 
government,  in  her  domain  and  organization, 
as  she  was  before,  a  separate  state  from  Po- 
land." 

*     *     * 

What  really  was  the  bond  between  Poland 
and  Lithuania  from  the  union  of  Lubhn  until 
the  fall  of  these  two  states  ?  All  that  time  both 
states  having  their  complete  separate  govern- 
ments had  in  common  only  one  ruler  with  the 
double  title — that  of  King  of  Poland  and  Grand 
Duke  of  Lithuania.  Each  ruler  was  elected 
for  life  at  the  common  convention  of  both 
states.    The  treaties  of  these   sovereign  states 


48        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

touching  the  affairs  of  both  states  had  to  be 
made  by  both  in  common.  General  conven- 
tions of  the  delegates  of  both  states  were  called 
together  in  common  to  pass  on  the  common  af- 
fairs of  both  states;  from  1673  they  were  con- 
vened alternately,  first  in  Lithuania  then  in 
Poland. 

From  what  has  been  said  we  see  that  Lithu- 
ania, a  sovereign  state,  then  in  a  personal  union 
with  Poland,  joined  Poland  as  an  equal  at  the 
union  of  Lublin;  so  the  relations  between  them, 
even  after  the  Lublin  union,  were  those  of  co- 
ordination not  of  subordination,  of  equality 
of  rights.  The  bonds  betvveen  states  enjoy- 
ing equal  rights  sometimes  may  be  very 
loose  and  temporary,  as,  for  instance,  an  al- 
liance for  a  certain  stated  time.  Here  in  the 
relations  of  Lithuania  and  Poland  we  see  a 
stronger  bond — a  community  of  certain  state 
organs  and  interests — but  this  bond  never  be- 
came the  bond  of  a  so-called  federal  state 
(etat  Federal).  Two  bordering  states  did  not 
become  one  organized  partnership,  with  a  gov- 
ernment exercising  its  constitution  and  its 
rights  over  the  territory  of  both,  each  of  which 
delegated  to  it  certain  of  their  sovereign  rights, 


APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE  BONDS    49 

as  in  the  case  of  Switzerland's  Eidgenossen- 
schaft  since  1848  or  the  German  Empire  since 
1871.  Lithuania  and  Poland  did  not  possess  a 
new  government  created  by  the  union  superior 
to  the  government  of  each.  Therefore  their 
mutual  relations  were  of  an  international  char- 
acter. In  them  we  find  only  the  community 
of  certain  organs  in  each  state,  in  this  case  in 
one  physical  person,  exercising  the  sovereignty 
of  both  states — one  ruler. 

But  here  this  personal  union  was  not  tempo- 
ral— accidental — as  sometimes  happens  through 
rights  of  heredity  converging  in  one  person  to 
form  a  personal  union  in  the  strict  sense.  In 
the  case  of  Lithuania  and  Poland  the  union  was 
effected  by  agreement  and  in  time  by  long  en- 
during custom — a  stable  union  with  the  same 
ruler  for  both  states  forever,  and  therefore  a 
real  union. 

The  union  of  Lithuania  and  Poland  fully  re- 
sembles the  bond  of  Austria  and  Hungary  of 
the  recent  times.  Austria-Hungary  by  the 
Constitution  of  1867  had  one  ruler,  the  Em- 
peror of  Austria  and  King  of  Hungary;  he  was 
vested  with  the  exterior  sovereignty  of  both 
states;  he  was  also  the  chief  commander  of  the 


50       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

common  army.  In  Lithuania  and  Poland  there 
was  one  ruler,  the  King  of  Poland  and  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  but  Lithuania  and 
Poland,  as  well  as  Austria  and  Hungary,  had  a 
separate  government  and  separate  laws.  On 
account  of  the  common  interests  of  both  states 
Austria-Hungary  has  delegations  from  both 
parliaments;  Lithuania  and  Poland  had  the 
common  convention  of  the  delegates  of  both 
states  to  look  after  the  common  affairs. 
*  *  * 
So  Lithuania  after  the  Lublin  union  remained 
a  separate  state,  but  remained  in  a  real  union 
with  Poland  until  December  of  1795,  when  she 
was  finally  divided  between  Russia  and  Prus- 
sia. The  political  history  of  Lithuania  after 
the  Lublin  union  is  closely  connected  with  the 
history  of  Poland.  The  period  from  the 
Lublin  union  till  the  fall  of  both  extends  over 
more  than  two  hundred  years.  In  1572  the 
male  Jagelon  line  of  the  dynasty  of  Gediminas 
ended,  and  in  1772  there  was  the  first  division 
of  Lithuania-Poland.  From  1572  until  1673, 
if  we  omit  Henry  of  Valois,  who  was  in  Cracow 
only  five  months,  only  one  man  not  Lithuanian, 
Stephan    Batory,    was    the    King    and    Grand 


APPRAISEMENT  OF  THE  BONDS    51 

Duke.*  The  other  rulers  were  from  the  other 
branch  of  the  same  Lithuanian  dynasty.  The 
first  male  from  the  female  Jagelon  line  was 
one  of  the  Vazas,  of  Sweden,  and  after  them 
came  Michael  Wisniowiecki,  who  is  considered 
as  of  the  other  line  of  Gediminas.  Of  the 
others,  the  first  was  John  Sobieski  (1674)  and 
the  last  was  August  Poniatowski  (1764)  both 
Poles;  and  between  them  are  two  Germans,  the 
Saxon  Kurfuersts,  August  II  and  Frederick  Au- 
gust III,  not  counting  the  Pole  Stanislaus 
Leszczinski,  who  was  proclaimed  King  and 
supported  for  five  years  by  Charles  XII  during 
wars  with  Sweden. 

After  the  Napoleonic  wars  and  the  Congress 
of  Vienna  the  fate  of  the  Lithuanian  nation 
was  determined  as  follows:  All  the  territories 
of  the  Letts  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Lithu- 
anian territory  was  apportioned  to  Russia  and 
only  the  smaller  part  of  Lithuania  at  the  mouth 
of  Niemen,  toward  the  sea  beyond  the  Pregel 
River,  was  left  to  Prussia. 

*  He  was  elected  King  on  the  condition  that  he  marry  Anna 
Jagelon,  sister  of  August,  who  was  elected  Queen  before  him. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  DOWNFALL  OF  THE  POLISH 
(AND  WITH  IT  THE  LITHUANIAN)  STATE ;  THE 
UNION  WITH  LITHUANIA  IS  THE  TRUE  REASON 
FOR  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  POLISH  NATION  AND 
STATE,  BUT,  AT  THE  SAME  TIME,  THE  CAUSE 
OF  INTERNAL  ANARCHY  AND  THE  DOWNFALL 
OF   THAT   STATE 

THE  cause  of  the  partition  of  Poland  and 
Lithuania  by  their  neighbors  was  the 
same  that  led  Lithuania  to  the  Lublin 
union,  the  weakening  almost  to  extinction  of 
the  power  of  the  state  at  home  and  abroad. 
The  Poles,  before  forcing  upon  Lithuania  the 
privileges  of  the  nobility,  had  extended  these 
privileges  beforehand  at  home  and  continually 
invented  new  privileges.  The  Grand  Dukes 
and  Kings,  continually  renouncing  preroga- 
tives of  their  power  in  behalf  of  the  gentry, 
finally  left  to  themselves  no  power  either  over 
the  gentry  or  over  the  other  people  depending 
on  gentry.  As  regards  the  power  of  the  ruler  in 
Lithuania  and  Poland  we  observe  a  counterpart 

52 


CAUSES  OF  THE   DOWNFALL      53 

of  what  happened  contemporaneously  in  Ger- 
many with  the  imperial  power,  with  the  differ- 
ence that  fortunately  for  Germany  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  supreme  power  there  were 
surrendered  to  the  governors  of  provinces  by 
heredity;  to  the  Kurfuersts,  to  the  Herzogs, 
and  the  Grafs;  as  if  in  Lithuania  the  powers  of 
the  Grand  Duke  had  been  distributed  to  the 
smaller  Dukes  possessing  the  rights  of  heredity. 
In  Lithuania  and  Poland  the  prerogatives  of 
supreme  power  were  divided  among  all  the 
members  of  the  nobility  possessing  estates; 
e^  ery  one  of  these  rich  noblemen  on  his  estates 
w  is  equal  to  the  German  Kurfuerst,  Herzog,  or 
G  af.  Finally,  only  a  shadow  of  royal  power 
WaS  left  to  the  Polish  King  and  Grand  Duke  of 
Lithuania — no  more  power  than  was  possessed 
by  his  picture  hanging  on  the  wall.  The  legis- 
lative power  of  the  convention  was  destroyed 
by  the  introduction  of  **liberum  veto."  The 
army  to  defend  the  borders  of  the  state  con- 
sisted of  the  gentry  called  together  by  "pos- 
polite  ruszenie" — the  mobilization.  But  this 
army  could  not  remain  in  mobilization  more 
than  three  months  and  could  not  be  led 
over  the  border  more  than  three  miles.     It  is 


54       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

evident  that  there  could  be  no  discipline  in 
such  an  army;  often,  as  soon  as  it  had  collected 
it  dispersed  without  action.  The  handful  of  a 
regular  hired  army  was  independent  of  the 
King,  and  very  often  collected  its  pay  by  force. 
In  one  w^ord,  there  was  but  a  nominal  central 
government.  There  was  a  King,  a  Grand  Duke, 
and  the  Convention,  but  their  action  was  para- 
lyzed— reduced  to  zero;  there  existed  practically 
no  executive  power  whatever;  the  defense  of 
the  state  from  the  external  foe  was  practically 
nil.  The  only  way  to  accomplish  something 
for  the  welfare  of  the  land  was  by  the  so-called 
confederacy  of  the  gentry,  a  kind  of  an  agree- 
ment for  a  definite  aim.  The  convention  of 
such  a  confederacy  made  its  resolutions  by  the 
majority  vote.  But  a  confederacy  was  dan- 
gerous; it  always  resulted  in  civil  war;  against 
one  confederacy  there  often  arose  another  in 
complete  opposition.  Therefore,  generally,  the 
government  could  not  have  recourse  to  it.  A 
French  publicist  of  those  times,  C.  C.  de 
Rulhiere,  called  this  liberty,  these  laws,  and 
the  government  of  which  the  Poles  were  boast- 
ing, barbaric:  "Ainsi  se  sent  perpetues  depuis 
un  temps  immemorial  jusqu'a  notre  age,  et  chez 


CAUSES  OF  THE   DOWNFALL      55 

une   nation   justement   celebre,    la   liberte,   les 
gouvernements  et  les  lois  des  barbares."  * 

The  statesmen  of  Lithuania,  long  before  the 
downfall  of  their  country,  fully  understood  the 
perniciousness  of  those  Polish  privileges  and 
condemned  them,  but  they  were  unable  to  free 
themselves  from  them.  We  have  testimony  to 
this  effect  in  the  Confederation  of  Vilna  of 
November  29,  1700,  which  was  signed  by  all 
the  highest  officials  of  the  Supreme  Lithuanian 
Government,  from  the  Lithuanian  Chancellor, 
Duke  Charles  Radizwill,  to  the  Supreme  Com- 
mander of  the  Armies  of  Lithuania  (The  Great 
Herman  of  Lithuania)  Duke  Michael  Korybut 
Wisniowiecki.  By  this  document  the  mag- 
nates of  Lithuania  renounced  and  condemned 
the  liberties  brought  from  Poland  to  Lithuania 
and  wished  to  return  to  the  absolute  power  of 
the  Grand  Duke  as  it  existed  in  the  times  of 
Gediminas  and  Vitautas;  they  declared  they 
were  convinced  that  the  Polish  liberties  were 
leading  to  the  perdition.  But  here,  as  in  the 
times  of  the  LubHn  union,  what  was  evidently 
pernicious  to  well-educated  and  broad-minded 

*  Histoire  de  I'anarchie  de  Pologne  et  du  demembrement  .  .  . 
par  Claude  Carloman  de  Rulhiere,  1807. 


56        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

magnates  was  desired  by  the  egoistic  mob  of 
uneducated,  short-sighted  small  gentry  of  the 
provinces. 

When  the  power  was  scattered  in  Germany 
among  Herzogs  and  counts — not  an  ordinary 
gentry  (Rittern),  but  the  rulers  of  provinces  pos- 
sessing rights  of  succession  (Landesherren) — 
there  were  among  them  ambitious  and  able  men 
who,  enlarging  gradually  their  wealth  and  in- 
fluence, could  create  centres  that  in  time  would 
unite  again  the  whole  wide-spread  state  and 
nation.  In  Lithuania  and  Poland  the  reverse 
happened.  In  Germany  the  power  of  the  state 
was  transferred  to  Landesherren.  In  Lithuania 
and  Poland  that  power  was  simply  destroyed. 
Moreover,  the  magnates,  estate  owners,  were 
only  the  private  possessors  of  real  estate,  not 
the  rulers  of  provinces,  not  Landesherren. 
There  were  no  centres  that  could  unite  the 
\^'  whole  land.  Therefore  both  countries,  Lithu- 
ania and  Poland,  collapsed  into  anarchy.  Po- 
land, abusing  the  weakened  and  half-dead  gov- 
ernment of  Lithuania,  in  1569  at  Lublin  broke 
away  and  separated  by  force  the  provinces  of 
Volynia  and  Ukraine;  the  remainder  of  Lithu- 
ania she  did  not  make  her  province,  but  merely 


CAUSES  OF  THE  DOWNFALL      57 

forced  her  into  a  union,  only  because  she  her- 
self was  weak  as  a  military  power  and  did  not 
wish  to  drive  the  Lithuanians  into  war.  In 
1772,  1793,  and  1795  the  same  thing  was  re- 
peated by  the  neighboring  states,  not  only  in 
regard  to  Lithuania  but  also  in  regard  to  Po- 
land, with  this  difference  only — that  the  nego- 
tiations about  the  unions  were  unnecessary. 
With  strong  armies  to  back  their  decisions 
strong  neighbors  did  not  fear  the  opposition  in 
Lithuania  and  Poland;  they  simply  divided 
them  amongst  themselves.  The  titles  upon 
which  successful  despoilers  took  the  Polish 
provinces  are  striking;  they  are  neither  more 
nor  less  just  than  those  titles  upon  which  Po- 
land took,  at  the  Lublin  union,  the  Lithuanian 
provinces,  Volynia,  Kiev,  and  others.  Prussia 
and  Austria,  relying  on  old  meaningless  titles, 
claimed  that  they  were  taking  back  what 
"justly"  belonged  to  them.  But  the  most 
adroit,  perhaps,  were  the  declarations  of  Cathe- 
rine: "Apres  les  depenses  considerables  en  hom- 
mes  et  en  argent  qu'a  coutees  a  I'empire  de 
Russie  son  assistance  a  la  Pologne  pour  la 
sauver  de  la  fureur  de  ses  propres  citoyens  .  .  . 
il  doit  paraitre  bien  modere  que  sa  Majeste  se 


58       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

borne  .  .  .  a  se  procurer  la  reparation  de 
dommage"  (C.  C.  de  Rulhiere).  They  di- 
vided among  themselves  the  Polish  provinces 
because  they  wished  to  save  Poland  from  the 

Poles ! 

*     *     * 

The  cause  of  the  downfall  of  the  Lithuanian 
state,  of  the  misery,  of  the  decrease,  and  of  the 
weakening  of  the  nation  itself  is  evident.  It 
was  association  with  the  Poles.  The  identifica- 
tion of  the  Grand  Duke  with  the  King  of  Po- 
land; the  distribution  of  Polish  privileges  among 
the  gentry;  the  influence  of  the  Poles  in  Lithu- 
ania through  a  King's  court,  through  Polish 
privileges,  and  through  the  Polish  church  and 
the  schools  in  Lithuania  under  its  jurisdiction, 
notably  the  University  of  Cracow  before  the 
Lublin  union,  and  later  the  Polish  Academy 
at  Vilna:  These  were  the  means  by  which  the 
governmental  power  of  the  state  in  Lithuania 
was  weakened.  The  higher  classes  of  the  na- 
tion were  Polonized,  and  by  the  spread  of 
Polonism  the  patriotism  of  the  nobility  and 
the  spirit  of  nationality  was  demoralized;  this 
led  the  Lithuanians  to  the  Lublin  union.  From 
that   time   the   influence   of  the   Poles   spread 


CAUSES  OF  THE  DOWNFALL      59 

rapidly  in  Lithuania.  The  majority  of  the 
gentry  accepted  the  PoUsh  language.  The 
greater  part  of  the  priesthood,  already  Polish, 
now  became  a  powerful  factor  in  Polonizing  the 
people.  Lithuanian  patriotism,  Lithuanian 
nationaHty  was  mixed  with  the  Polish.  This 
became  a  by-word:  "gente  Lithuanus,  natione 
Polonus."  The  Polish  speech  among  Lithu- 
anians became  the  speech  of  the  educated  class. 
There  was  real  danger  that  the  Lithuanian 
state  would  become  a  Polish  province  and  that 
the  Lithuanian  nation  would  perish  with  the 
dying  out  of  the  Lithuanian  language.  On  the 
other  hand,  Poland  became  a  great  world  power 
only  after  the  union  with  Lithuania.  The  small 
Polish  nation  grew  big  by  the  union  with  Lithu- 
ania. By  the  Polonization  of  the  Lithuanian 
gentry  and  educated  classes  the  power  of  the 
PoHsh  literary,  artistic,  and  upper  classes,  also 
the  influence  of  PoHsh  culture,  greatly  increased. 
The  names  of  men  of  Lithuanian  origin  adorn 
PoHsh  history  and  literature,  names  Hke  Mic- 
kiewicz,  Kosciuszko.  Lithuanian  magnates, 
such  as  Radziwills,  Pac'es,  Sapieha's,  and  the 
Czartoryski's,  the  princes  of  the  Gediminas 
family  now   became   Polish   magnates.     Their 


6o       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

wealth  was  helping  Polish  culture  and  Polish 
interests.  This  is  the  reason  the  Poles  so 
highly  honor  the  "Jagellonians"  and  cling  to 
the  Lithuanians,  so  that  when  the  Lithuanians 
of  our  time  desire  to  realize  their  own  inde- 
pendent destiny  the  Poles  per  fas  et  nefas  would 
retain  them  in  their  care.  It  seems  to  the  Poles 
that  the  Lithuanians  by  fate  itself  are  destined 
to  belong  to  them,  so  that  they  ma}^  grow  and 
become  great  on  the  ruins  of  the  Lithuanian 
nation. 

Nevertheless  this  union  with  Lithuania  and 
this  invitation  to  a  Lithuanian  dynasty  to 
rule  over  them,  which  contributed  so  much 
toward  the  growth  and  fame  of  the  Polish  na- 
tion, was  the  real  cause  of  the  downfall  of  their 
state.  A  foreign  dynasty  invited  to  rule  by  the 
nobility  felt  its  dependence  upon  them  and 
did  not  feel  as  secure  upon  the  throne  as  if  it 
had  been  a  native  Polish  dynasty.  We  see 
even  in  Jagela's  hands  a  weak  kingly  power. 
He  and  his  successors  felt  that  they  reigned  by 
the  grace  of  the  nobility;  that  this  nobility 
might  not  choose  their  son  to  the  succession. 
Therefore  every  one  of  them  at  the  beginning 
of  his  reign,   to  insure  the  throne  to  his  son, 


CAUSES  OF   THE   DOWNFALL      6i 

diminished  the  power  and  the  wealth  of  the  office 
and  oppressed  the  lower  classes  for  the  benefit 
of  the  nobility  by  giving  privileges  until  there 
remained  only  a  shadow  of  a  King's  authority. 
Among  the  nobility  there  sprung  up  magnates 
equal  to  feudal  Dukes  of  other  countries.  The 
authority  of  the  King  collapsed  altogether, 
and  each  of  the  magnates  looked  out  for  his 
own  benefit;  they  began  wars  among  themselves 
or  rose  against  the  King;  and  during  the  elec- 
tion of  a  King  they  began  to  call  in  the  aid  of 
foreign  governments. 

This  anarchy  was  increased  by  the  unfor- 
tunate union  with  Lithuania,  a  foreign  nation 
several  times  larger  than  Poland.  The  Poles 
continually  endeavored  to  incorporate  Lithu- 
ania with  Poland,  and  the  Lithuanians  during 
all  this  time  were  opposing  these  efforts;  the 
history  of  these  centuries  records  continual 
breaking  of  the  unions  by  the  Lithuanians:* 
the   open    siding   with    Poland's   foes   in   war- 

*  In  1655  the  Government  of  Lithuania  made  a  treaty  with 
Sweden  against  Poland  during  the  latter's  war  with  Charles 
Gustav;  Janusz  and  Boguslav  Radziwills  endeavored  to  separate 
Lithuania  from  Poland;  Prince  Sapieha  and  his  party  waged 
war  against  the  King  in  1700;  the  Russians  of  eastern  provinces 
in  the  wars  with  Moscow  sided  against  Poland  and  joined  the 
state  of  Moscow. 


62       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

time;  religious  strife  between  the  Orthodox  and 
CathoHcs;  such  antagonism  between  the  na- 
tionahty  of  the  Lithuanians  and  the  Poles, 
that  even  such  Lithuanians  as  had  adopted  the 
Polish  language,  until  very  recent  times,  en- 
deavored to  accentuate  their  Lithuanianism.* 
Therefore  the  united  Lithuanian-Polish  state, 
although  in  its  time  the  largest  in  Europe, 
never  showed  such  a  great  power  abroad  as  its 
size  warranted;  and  later  on,  through  mutual 
strife  and  anarchy,  it  gradually  grew  weaker, 
until  it  finally  collapsed. 

So  the  union  of  Poland  with  Lithuania  led 
both  to  anarchy  and  to  final  collapse. 

*  Vide  British  Review,  February,  1915.  Autonomy  of  Poland 
and  Lithuania.  J.  Gabrys  Lietuviu-Lenku  Unija.  The  Lithu- 
anian Polish  Union. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CONSCIOUS- 
NESS OF  THE  LITHUANIANS  UP  TO  THE  PRES- 
ENT DAY  THROUGH  THE  PRESERVATION  OF 
THEIR  OWN  LANGUAGE,  TRADITIONS,  AND  THE 
EXPRESSION  OF  THAT  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  THEIR 
LITERATURE;  THE  RISE  AND  EXPANSION 
AMONG  THE  LITHUANIANS  OF  THE  IDEA  OF 
NATIONAL  INDEPENDENCE  FROM  DANGEROUS 
FOREIGN  INFLUENCE;  THE  PRESENT  CUL- 
TURAL AND  ECONOMIC  GROWTH  OF  THE  NA- 
TION 

^T  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
/-%  Lithuanian  state  collapsed;  but  the  Lith- 
uanian nation,  although  very  badly  im- 
paired and  in  the  run  of  centuries  decreased 
by  more  than  half,  did  not  cease  to  exist.  For 
the  state  is  not  the  nation.  The  state  is  only 
an  institution  of  a  nation;  that  institution 
without  which  the  nation  can  live  long,  even 
growing  larger  and  stronger,  as  did  the  no- 
madic IsraeHtes  before  the  occupation  of 
Canaan.  A  nation  can  be  defined  as  a  com- 
posite entity  with  customs,  language,  and  a 
conscious  spirit  by  which  it  conceives  of  itself 

63 


64       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

as  having  a  being  distinct  from  that  of  any 
other  similar  group  of  humanity.  No  one  will 
say  that  after  the  fall  of  the  Polish  state,  even 
after  the  last  insurrection  of  the  Poles  in  1863, 
when  the  Russian  Government  abolished  the 
last  rights  of  PoHsh  autonomy,  there  was  no 
longer  a  PoHsh  nation. 

There  is  to-day,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Poles, 
a  Lithuanian  nation;  and  there  are  many  other 
nations  which  as  yet  are  not  actual  states,  but 
have  their  language,  their  traditions,  and  a 
consciousness  of  their  distinctness  from  other 
groups  of  humanity  and  their  peculiar  spiritual 
life.  A  state  is,  as  we  said,  a  national  institu- 
tion without  which  a  civilized  nation  cannot 
easily  exist.  A  state  is  like  the  home  of  a 
nation,  a  guarantee  of  her  self-independence; 
without  it  a  nation,  although  it  exists,  is  op- 
pressed by  others,  robbed  and  often  destroyed; 
and  serving  a  stranger,  frequently  forced  to 
defend  its  very  existence,  it  finds  it  difficult  to 
achieve  anything  for  the  benefit  of  humanity. 

The  life  of  a  nation  manifests  itself  in  its 
traditions,  which  again  are  preserved  in  the 
national  language  and  reveal  themselves  in  its 
literature.     Given  a  language  and  a  literature, 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       65 

no  nation  can  be  considered  to  be  dead  or  non- 
existent, for  she  herself  is  conscious  of  her  ex- 
istence. But  if  it  is  not  also  a  state,  another 
nation  which  compelled  it  to  belong  to  it  can 
oppress  it,  but  cannot  say  that  it  as  a  nation 
does  not  exist. 

Nearly  all  the  literature  of  the  European 
nations,  with  the  exception  of  the  Greeks  and 
Latins,  began  after  the  adoption  of  Christian- 
ity. Lithuania  was  the  last  European  nation  to 
accept  Christianity.  There  is  evidence  in  pre- 
historic times  that  the  Runic  writings  were 
known  in  Lithuania.  After  the  founding  of  the 
Lithuanian  state  the  Latin  language  was  used 
in  the  Grand  Duke's  office  in  transactions 
with  western  Europe,  and  the  Slavonian  church 
language  in  dealings  with  the  Russian  Dukes. 
In  1529  the  code  of  Lithuanian  laws  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Slavic  language. 

The  first  books  printed  in  the  Lithuanian 
language,  which  were  of  purely  religious  type, 
appeared  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. They  were  written  by  the  clergy  and 
answered  their  purposes;  for  the  priests,  having 
to  deal  with  people  that  understood  no  lan- 
guage but  the  Lithuanian,  had  to  use  this  Ian- 


66       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

guage  in  their  books.  Books  of  the  belles- 
lettres  and  worldly  poetry  could  not  be  found 
at  this  period,  for  few  of  the  wealthy  people 
were  educated  in  western  Europe  and  they  be- 
came interested  in  Latin  and  various  other 
languages  of  the  West.  The  first  book  pub- 
lishers had  established  themselves  with  the 
higher  educational  institutions.  There  had  been 
since  1544  a  university  at  Konigsberg,  which 
was  the  first  in  the  territory  of  the  Lithuanian 
nation.  Here  the  first  Lithuanian  books  were 
printed. 

Two  editions  of  a  small  catechism  in  the 
Prussian  language  were  published  in  1545,  and 
in  1547  M.  Vaitkunas,  pastor  of  Ragnit,  pub- 
lished the  first  book  in  the  Lithuanian  language 
containing  a  short  catechism,  the  first  elemen- 
tary reading,  and  some  hymns.  The  book  was 
dedicated  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania. 
Luther's  Enchiridion,  or  the  Smaller  Catechism, 
was  published  in  the  Prussian  language  in 
Konigsberg  in  1561;  in  1579  the  same  work 
was  translated  into  Lithuanian  by  B.  Villentas, 
the  pastor  of  Konigsberg. 

From  1578  we  have  evidence  of  official 
Lithuanian  writing. 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       e-j 

,  In  the  meantime  in  Vilna,  in  1566,  the  sec- 
ond edition  of  the  Lithuanian  Statute  was  pub- 
lished, and  in  1588  the  third  edition,  both  in 
the  Slavic  language.  The  third  edition  was 
translated  into  the  Polish  language — a  sign  of 
early  Polonizing  of  the  higher  classes  of  Lithu- 
ania. 

About  the  year  1580  J.  Bretkunas,  a  Lithu- 
anian pastor  of  Labguva,  later  of  Konigsberg, 
translated  the  whole  Bible. 

The  Hymn  Book,  by  Bretkunas,  was  pub- 
lished in  1589;  in  1591  his  Postilla  (sermons). 

In  16 1 2  L.  Sengstock,  pastor  of  Konigsberg, 
published  his  Hymnal.  About  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century  the  Prussian  Lithu- 
anians had  a  conspicuous  writer,  D.  Kleinis, 
pastor  of  Tilsit.  In  1653  he  published  Gram- 
matica  Lithuanica;  in  1666  he  pubHshed  also 
in  Konigsberg  the  Hymn  Book,  one  of  the  best 
books  of  the  kind  in  the  Lithuanian  language. 
It  was  republished  in  1685,  1705,  1869.  In 
1872  it  was  revised  by  Fr.  Kurszatis.  Up  to 
the  present  time  it  is  the  best  of  Lutheran 
hymnals  and  prayer-books  in  Lithuanian. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century 
Duke  M.  Radziwill  founded  a  school  with  the 


68        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

Calvin  Church  in  Vilna,  and  Birze,  and  the 
printing  establishment  at  Nesviez.  During 
the  Lublin  Diet  in  1569  the  Jesuits  obtained 
permission  to  come  to  Lithuania,  and  in  the 
second  year  after  that  they  opened  their  col- 
lege at  Vilna,  which  in  1578  was  changed  to  an 
academy,  adding  to  it  their  printing  establish- 
ment. In  Vilna,  the  heart  of  Lithuania,  a 
second  publishing  house  arose  for  the  printing 
of  Lithuanian  books — CathoUc  as  well  as  Prot- 
estant. 

In  1595  appeared  the  Catechism  of  Ledesma, 
translated  by  Michael  Dauksas,  a  Samogitian 
prelate. 

In  1599,  in  Vilna,  appeared  Postilla,  by  the 
same  M.  Dauksas. 

In  1600  in  Vilna  was  published  the  Lithuanian 
Postilla  (Calvinist),  by  Jacob  Morkunas,  a 
newly  revised  edition.  When  the  first  edition 
was  printed  is  not  known. 

In  1605  the  Catechism  of  Ledesma  was  pub- 
lished in  the  eastern  TJthuanian  dialect. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  centur}'' 
a  famous  writer,  Reverend  Constant  Sirvidas, 
a  Jesuit,  a  professor  of  the  Academy  of  Vilna 
and    a    Lithuanian    preacher   of   Saint   John's 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       69 

Church,  labored  in  Vilna.  Of  his  books  the 
following  were  piibHshed  in  Vilna:  in  1629  his 
Book  of  Sermons;  in  1644,  Lenten  Sermons, 
Clavis  linguae  Lituanicae,  a  grammar;  a  dic- 
tionary, Dictionarium  trium  linguarum,  Lithu- 
anian, Latin,  and  PoHsh — only  the  fourth  edi- 
tion of  1677  remams,  the  date  of  the  first  edition 
is  not  known. 

In  1737,  in  Vilna,  appeared  Typis  Collegii 
Academici  Soc.  Jesu  Universitas  linguarum 
lituanicae  in  principali  Ducatus  ejusdem  gram- 
maticis  legibus  circumscripta. 

In  1677,  in  Vilna,  the  Lithuanian  translation 
of  the  catechism  of  Cardinal  Bellarmin  was 
published. 

Adalbert  Kojalowcz,  a  professor  and  rector 
of  the  Academy  of  Vilna,  wrote  (i)  Historiae 
Lituaniae  Pars  prior  to  1387,  which  was  printed 
at  Danzig  in  1650,  and  (2)  Pars  altera,  printed 
at  Antwerp  in  1669. 

In  1705,  in  Vilna,  the  book  of  Gospels  and 
Epistles  was  published.  It  was  reprinted  in 
171 1,  1750,  1803.  This  was  the  best  Lithu- 
anian book  of  the  kind. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Lithuanian  lan- 
guage in  the  books  printed  in  Konigsberg,  as 


70       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

well  as  in  Vilna,  is  grammatically  perfect  in 
phraseology,  the  selection  of  words  fitting  ac- 
curately to  their  meaning,  etc.,  which  shows 
that  the  Lithuanian  language  was  used  in 
literature  a  century  previous  to  this. 

With  the  weakening  of  Protestantism  in 
Vilna  the  publication  of  Protestant  Lithuanian 
books  in  Vilna  ceased. 

In  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
city  of  Keidany  became  the  centre  of  Protes- 
tant activity,  the  seat  of  the  Calvinistic  Synod. 
In  1653,  in  Keidany,  the  book,  Lithuanian 
Prayer  Book,  dedicated  to  Duke  Janusz  Radzi- 
will,  was  published.  In  1553,  also  in  Keidany, 
Summa  or  the  Explanation  of  Gospels  was  pub- 
lished, and  in  1653  -^  Prayer  Book  for  All  Year 
Around. 

From  1657  to  1666,  through  the  efforts  of 
the  Calvinistic  Synod  of  Keidany,  the  Lithu- 
anian edition  of  the  Bible  was  printed  in  Lon- 
don. 

In  1701  the  Calvins  of  Keidany  published  in 
Konigsberg  the  New  Testament  in  Lithuanian. 

In  Prussia,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  gov- 
ernment assisted  in  a  revision  toward  uniform- 
ity in  the  prayer-book.     In   1719  Doctor  H. 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       71 

Lysius,  at  the  order  of  the  government,  pub- 
lished a  small  catechism  of  Martin  Luther. 

More  difficulties  were  encountered  with  the 
hymnals,  the  work  upon  them  by  the  Prussian 
Lithuanian  clergy  being  carried  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  After  several 
revisions  the  consistory  of  eastern  Prussia  finally 
published,  in  1791,  in  Konigsberg,  a  Hymnal 
containing  five  hundred  and  forty-two  hymns. 
This  was  revised  and  repubUshed  many  times 
later. 

Along  with  these  religious  works  there  ap- 
peared in  Prussia  two  well-known  writers, 
Philip  Ruhig,  pastor  of  Valterkiemis,  who  in 
1747  published  the  Lithuanian  dictionary,  and 
Kr.  Donelaitis,  the  first  Lithuanian  poetical 
genius.  Among  his  productions  is  a  great 
poem,  Metu  Laikai,  The  Seasons  of  the  Year, 
in  hexameter. 

His  work  describes  the  life  of  the  Lithuanian 
peasant  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
just  as  Mickiewicz's  Pan  Tadeusz,  written  in 
Polish,  tells  of  the  life  of  the  Polonized  Lithu- 
anian gentry  from  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century;  each  of  these  works  is  comple- 
mentary   to    the    other;    but    the    Mickiewicz 


72        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

picture  of  the  Polonized  Lithuanian  gentry  is 
idealized  and  adorned  in  accordance  with  Polish 
patriotism.  Throughout,  the  best  side  is  pre- 
sented. The  picture  of  the  life  of  the  gentry 
as  a  whole  is  incomplete;  their  relations  with 
their  bondsmen  are  hardly  mentioned;  but 
the  form  and  style  of  the  whole  work  is  perfect. 
Donelaitis's  picture  of  the  life  of  the  peasants 
is  altogether  real,  even  in  respect  of  their  un- 
cultured language  and  their  unrefined  be- 
havior. 

In  the  nineteenth  century  L.  Reza,  who 
died  in  1840,  published  Donelaitis's  poems,  and 
in  1824  the  complete  edition  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  In  the  same  year  he  published 
^-sop's  Fables,  and  in  the  following  year  a  col- 
lection of  Lithuanian  Songs  (Daina)  with  their 
German  translations.  Immanuel  Kant,  the 
great  German  philosopher,  expressed  high  ad- 
miration for  the  folk-lore  contained  therein. 
F.  Kurszatis,  who  died  in  1884,  revised  and 
published  in  1854  the  Lithuanian  edition  of 
the  New  Testament  and  the  Hymnal,  as 
well  as  the  prayer-book  for  the  Prussian  army, 
the  catechism  for  the  schools,  the  German 
Lithuanian     Dictionary,   and     the    Lithuanian 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       73 


Grammar  in  German.  From  1849  to  il 
he  published  in  Konigsberg  the  newspaper 
Keleivis,  which  was  well  liked  by  the  Lithu- 
anians. 


*    * 


In  the  nineteenth  century  almost  the  entire 
Lithuanian  nation,  arrested  by  the  unfortunate 
political  tendencies  of  the  Lithuanian  Govern- 
ment, beginning  with  Jagela  and  the  unions 
with  the  Poles,  finds  itself  within  the  boundaries 
of  the  Russian  Empire.  Only  a  smaller  part 
of  the  Lithuanians,  Hving  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Niemen  toward  the  Baltic  Sea  as  far  south  as 
the  river  Pregel,  belonged  to  Prussia.  On  the 
downfall  of  the  states  of  Lithuania  and  Poland, 
Polish  patriotism  first  expanded  and  intensified, 
so  affecting  the  Polonized  strata  of  the  Lithu- 
anian nation  as  to  urge  them  to  further  Po- 
lonization.  The  Vilna  educational  district, 
with  the  University  of  Vilna  and  the  Polish 
schools  throughout  Lithuania,  and  two  PoHsh 
uprisings  against  Russia  in  183 1  and  1863 
greatly  advanced  the  vehement  Polonization 
of  Lithuania.  In  1803  Czartoryski,  the  Polish 
aristocrat,  a  descendant  of  the  Grand  Dukes 
of  Lithuania,  was  appointed  president  of  the 


74       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

educational  district  of  Vilna,  which  extended 
over  almost  the  whole  of  Lithuania.  He  trans- 
formed the  Jesuit  Academy  of  Vilna  into  a 
university,  and  in  connection  with  it  also  estab- 
lished a  grand  seminary  for  the  priests.  He 
ordered  the  monasteries  to  maintain  elemen- 
tary schools,  about  forty  in  number,  through- 
out Lithuania.  All  these  schools  were  PoHsh 
and  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Polonized 
university;  they  systematically  conducted  the 
Polonization  of  Lithuania.  The  University  of 
Vilna,  with  these  other  schools,  was  abolished 
by  the  Russian  Government  only  after  the 
Polish  uprising  in  1830-183 1.  The  work  of  Po- 
lonization of  Lithuania  was  continued  by  the 
churches,  as  before,  and  by  the  University  of 
Vilna  and  its  schools.  In  many  parishes  the 
Lithuanian  tongue  was  replaced  by  the  Polish. 
Priests  ignorant  of  the  Lithuanian  language 
were  intentionally  sent  to  Lithuanian-speaking 
parishes,  and  those  speaking  Lithuanian  were 
sent  to  Russian-speaking  churches.  Each  up- 
rising of  the  Poles  was  the  cause  of  greater 
intensification  of  Polish  patriotism,  and  drew 
more  and  more  Lithuanians  to  the  Polish  side. 
Nevertheless,  the  Lithuanian  national  spirit 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       75 

could  not  die  as  long  as  the  language  of  the 
nation  lived.  The  glorious  Lithuanian  national 
traditions  were  cherished  even  by  the  already 
Polonized  Lithuanians  of  the  upper  classes. 
In  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
later,  we  find  a  whole  line  of  able  Lithuanian 
writers  who  wrote  in  Polish,  such  as  Mickie- 
wicz,  J.  I.  Kraszewski,  Narbutt,  Kondratowicz, 
Ign.  Chodzko,  Odyniec,  Mary  Radziewicz. 
Some  of  their  works  only  belong  to  Polish  Hter- 
ature  because  they  were  written  in  the  PoHsh 
language:  their  ideas  and  purport  served  to 
revive  the  Lithuanian  national  consciousness. 
This  was  the  case  with  Mickiewicz's  Grazyna 
and  Konrad  Wallenrod;  Kraszewski's  Plaint  of 
Vitolis,  Mindove,  Vitautas's  Battles,  and  The 
History  of  Lithuania,  and  Narbutt's  History  of 
Lithuania,  etc. 

In  the  nineteenth  century  Lithuanian  writers 
increase  greatly  in  number.  And  after  1869, 
when  slavery  was  abolished  by  the  Russian 
Government,  a  great  number  of  peasants'  sons 
joined  the  ranks  of  Lithuanian  writers. 

We  have  poems  written  in  those  times  by 
Dionysius  Poszka,  Reverend  Anthony  Draz- 
dauskas    and     Reverend    Simon    Staneviczus, 


76       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

rector  of  the  ecclesiastical  seminary  at  Varniai, 
etc. 

In  1832,  in  Prussia,  the  first  Lithuanian 
periodical  was  published  by  Fr.  Kalkis. 

The  period  of  1840  to  1870,  of  Daukantas 
(1864),  and  Bishop  Valanczauskis  (1875),  was 
a  golden  one  for  the  Lithuanian  literature. 
Both  wrote  and  published  many  a  Lithuanian 
book.  About  this  time  L.  Ivinskis,  Dovi- 
daviczus,  Tatare,  and  Bishop  A.  Baranauskas 
began  to  write,  and  Reverend  A.  Juszkeviczus 
published  a  collection  of  5,600  folk-songs,  etc. 

In  1847  L.  Ivinskis  began  to  publish  his  yearly 
almanacs,  so  famous  among  Lithuanians. 

In  1854  a  famous  linguist,  Schleicher,  pub- 
lishes in  Prague  his  great  work.  The  Lithu- 
anian Grammar  (in  German). 

In  1880,  in  Tilsit,  Prussia,  the  Lithuanian 
Literary  Society  was  organized,  whose  activity 
encouraged  so  much  the  educated  Lithuanians 
in  Prussian  and  Russian  Lithuania  to  return 
to  the  use  of  the  language  of  their  fathers. 

In  March  of  1883  there  begins  to  appear  in 
Ragnit,  later  in  Tilsit,  Prussia,  the  monthly, 
Auszra,  or  The  Dawn,  to  voice  the  patriot- 
ism of  the  new  era  in  Lithuania.     The  appear- 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       ^j 

ance  of  Auszra  is  the  starting-point  of  the 
Lithuanian  national  consciousness,  and  of 
the  organized  national  attempt  for  liberation 
from  injurious  foreign  influences. 

Some  call  this  period  the  revival.  The  term 
is  not  strictly  correct.  The  consciousness  of 
the  Lithuanian  nationalism  and  individuality 
had  never  ceased  to  exist.  The  nation  there- 
fore was  not  asleep.  But  national  conscious- 
ness was  passive;  the  nation  did  not  defend  it- 
self. There  had  been  no  idea  that  foreign 
influences  were  dangerous.  But  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  Poloniza- 
tion  had  reached  its  highest  mark  in  Lithuania 
and  the  real  peril  of  the  extinction  of  the  Lithu- 
anian language  became  apparent,  the  more  in- 
telligent minds  foresaw  the  danger  to  the  na- 
tion itself.  Then  did  the  nation  understand 
that  it  had  been  heretofore  in  a  false  position 
and  energetic  persons  began  the  work  of  or- 
ganizing the  nation.  The  movement  started 
with  the  defense  of  the  Lithuanian  language 
and  later  concerned  itself  with  the  other  aban- 
doned interests  of  the  nation.  Before,  there  was 
passive  consciousness  in  the  nation,  now  there 
was  full  understanding;  and  to  ward  off"  the  dan- 


78        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

ger  the  political  programme  was  drawn  up,  pos- 
itive action  outlined,  and  organization  perfected. 

Auszra  appears  in  Prussia,  because  after 
the  Polish  insurrection  of  1863  the  Lithuanian 
publications  were  forbidden  in  Russia.  Only 
after  forty  years  of  hardest  unequal  struggle 
of  the  nation  in  behalf  of  the  press  was  the  ban 
on  the  press  lifted  by  Russia  in  1904.  The 
martyrs  of  the  Lithuanian  national  ideal  had 
suffered  exile  and  imprisonment  in  Siberia  and 
other  distant  Russian  provinces. 

We  have  seen  that  the  political  union  with 
the  Poles  greatly  injured  the  Lithuanian  na- 
tion; almost  the  entire  upper  class  adopted  the 
Polish  speech;  entire  districts  of  the  territory 
inhabited  by  Lithuanians  in  the  south  and  east 
became  Polonized  or  Russianized.  Neverthe- 
less the  Lithuanian  idea — the  national  con- 
sciousness— remained  unimpaired  to  the  last. 
When,  after  long  bondage,  there  sprang  up 
numerous  Lithuanian  educated  men  from  the 
peasant  stock,  these  would  not  adopt  a  foreign 
tongue.  Turning  to  a  pure  national  ideal  they 
counted  every  foreign  influence  over  their 
nation  as  dangerous,  and  began  to  urge  entire 
rejection  of  Polonism;   though  many  who  had 


NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS       79 

adopted  the  Polish  language  before  began  to 
renounce  their  Lithuanian  nationalism,  stand- 
ing with  the  Polish  nation  and  proclaiming 
themselves  Poles. 

Since  1883,  however,  Lithuanian  literature, 
and  with  it  the  new  national  ideal,  spread  with 
unbounded  force  through  Lithuania.  As  time 
went  on  new  poets,  writers  of  fiction,  scientific 
writers,  philologists,  and  other  writers  appeared. 

During  the  Russian  revolution  of  1905  the 
national  consciousness  in  Lithuania  was  so 
strong  and  wide-spread  throughout  the  land 
that  it  was  possible  to  call  a  national  conven- 
tion from  all  parts  of  Lithuania.  This  national 
convention  was  held  on  December  4  and  5, 
1905.  It  was  there  resolved  by  the  district 
and  county  conventions  to  remove  from  Lithu- 
ania all  Russian  office-holders  and  to  introduce 
a  Lithuanian  government  everywhere.* 

The  resolutions  of  this  national  convention 

*  During  the  twenty  years  previous  to  the  lifting  of  the  ban 
against  Lithuanian  Hterature  imposed  by  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment (1886-1905),  five  Lithuanian  publishing  houses  flourished 
in  the  United  States.  Through  the  efforts  of  J.  Panksitis,  D.  T. 
Boczkowski,  A.  M.  Milukas,  A.  Olszewski,  Lithuanian  Alliance 
of  America,  and  Society  of  Lithuanian  Patriots,  over  four  hun- 
dred works  were  published,  including  masterpieces  of  Lithuanian 
literature  and  translations  of  the  classic  of  the  English  and 
other  literatures. 


8o       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

were  disseminated  in  all  Lithuania  immediately 
after  the  return  of  the  delegates  from  the  con- 
vention. Only  by  the  proclamation  of  martial 
law  and  with  the  help  of  the  army  did  the  Rus- 
sian Government  subdue  this  movement  of  the 
Lithuanians.  But  although  the  old  order  of 
the  government  was  resumed,  more  freedom 
remained  in  the  land;  the  Lithuanian  language 
was  still  used  in  the  schools  and  in  some  lower 
government  institutions.  Lithuanians  were  per- 
mitted to  take  governmental  offices  in  Lithuania. 

Lately,  after  the  revolution  of  1905  and 
after  the  national  convention  at  Vilna,  the 
Lithuanian  nation,  enjoying  more  liberty,  rose 
considerably,  both  spiritually  and  economically. 

The  national  consciousness  and  the  desire 
of  full  independence  mastered  the  entire  na- 
tion. Literary  and  economic  societies  were 
founded;  private,  elementary,  and  high  schools 
were  established,  as  well  as  banks  of  credit  and 
trade  exchanges.  Farming  associations,  co- 
operative trade  associations,  educational,  scien- 
tific, and  artists'  societies  were  founded.  Lately, 
the  Lithuanian  nation  has  grown  considerably 
in  power,  educationally  and  materiall}',  and  has 
perfected  its  cultural  and  political  life. 


v^ 


CHAPTER  VII 

PRESENT  NATIONAL  ASPIRATIONS  OF  THE  LITHU- 
ANIANS: THE  POLITICAL  UNITY  AND  INDE- 
PENDENCE OF  ALL  PARTS  OF  THE  LITHUANIAN 
NATION  NOW  UNDER  DIFFERENT  GOVERN- 
MENTS (RUSSIAN  AND  GERMAN);  FREEDOM 
FROM  FOREIGN  INFLUENCES  ;  THE  PRESERVA- 
TION OF  ONE  AND  SOLE  LITHUANIAN  LANGUAGE 
AS  THE  NATIONAL  TONGUE  ;  RELATIONS  WITH 
THE  POLES,  WHITE  RUSSIANS,  AND  LETTS 

WE  have  learned  of  the  past;  let  us 
endeavor  to  examine  the  present 
aims  of  the  Lithuanian  nation.  Now 
the  Lithuanian  nation  is  alive,  self-conscious, 
and  eager  to  be  completely  free  of  foreign 
tutelage,  to  become  independent,  to  realize 
itself.  The  ideal  of  every  nation  is  the  political 
union  of  all  parts  of  the  nation  in  a  single 
independent  state.  Political  unions  forcing 
different  nations  to  combine  into  one  state  are 
mistakes  or  misfortunes;  they  bring  one  or 
several  of  those  united  nations  to  destruction. 
The  peril  of  such  unions  is  demonstrated  to  us 
by  history.     Even  when  populous  and  power- 


82       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

ful  nations  receive  into  their  state  large  foreign 
elements  and  assimilate  them  by  force  or  by 
lapse  of  time  and  the  influence  of  life,  they 
themselves  degenerate  into  a  different  nation 
and  lose  their  former  character  and  being. 
The  Latin  nation  which  founded  the  world- 
wide state  of  Rome  perished  by  mixture  with 
the  conquered  nations,  and  degenerated  into 
several  new  and  previously  non-existent  na- 
tions; neither  French,  nor  Italians,  nor  Rou- 
manians are  the  old  Latin  nation  that  founded 
Rome.  The  Bohemian  nation  has  been  for  a 
long  time  in  a  union  of  German  nations,  has 
continuously  accepted  on  her  throne  a  succes- 
sion of  German  princes,  and  finally  entered 
wholly  into  a  personal  union  with  Austria  in 
1526.  But  what  advantage  did  she  gain  ?  She 
completely  lost  her  kingdom  and  her  inde- 
pendence. Her  territory,  that  formerly  had 
embraced  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Silesia,  now 
is  half  Germanized  and  even  divided  between 
several  German  states;  eventually  she  found 
herself  almost  without  hope  of  ever  regaining 
her  independence.  The  same  thing  happened 
to  Lithuania.  The  error  of  Algirdas  with  re- 
lation to  the  Russians  and  the  still  greater  error 


PRESENT  NATIONAL  ASPIRATIONS   83 

of  Jagela  with  relation  to  the  Poles  led  us  to 
the  same  consequences  as  the  Bohemians  ar- 
rived at.  If  after  this  war  our  nation  is  not 
permitted  to  unite  and  to  organize  as  a  state, 
in  the  course  of  future  ages  there  may  remain 
only  a  small  remnant  of  us,  without  hope,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Eastern  nations:  the  Copts  of 
Egypt,  the  Syrians,  Phoenicians,  and  Assyr- 
ians. Denationalization  of  the  foreign  nations 
received  into  a  state  is  being  accomplished  in 
the  interests  either  of  the  dynasty  or  of  the  ruHng 
classes  of  the  compound  state  for  the  alleged 
strengthening  of  the  state,  which  these  classes 
or  dynasties  consider  as  their  property.  For- 
merly the  nations  that  found  themselves  in  a 
foreign  state  were  always  denationalized.  The 
same  fate  will  befall  such  nations  in  the  future. 
And  the  Lithuanian  nation,  to  be  free  from 
such  a  danger,  must  necessarily  separate  itself 
from  the  foreign  nations  and  organize  its  own 
state.  Therefore  the  well-defined  aim  of  our 
patriots  should  be  not  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Lithuania  that  existed  in  the  past,  not  the 
union  with  other  nations,  whether  Poles,  White 
Russians,  or  Russians,  but  the  uniting  of  all 
parts  of  the  territory  inhabited  by  the  Lithu- 


84        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

anian  people  which  are  now  distributed  among 
the  neighboring  states,  and  out  of  this  united 
territory,  the  making  of  a  new  Lithuanian  state 
free  of  foreign  influences. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  Lithuanians 
renounce  all  those  parts  of  their  former  states 
which  are  inhabited  by  pure  White  Russians 
or  Poles;  but  all  the  territory  inhabited  by 
the  Lithuanians  must  be  united.  From  the 
future  Lithuania  should  be  separated  those 
districts  that  are  Lithuanian  in  a  broad  ethno- 
graphical way;  where  there  formerly  lived 
people  of  the  same  Lithuanian  race  using  the 
Lithuanian  language,  but  who  a  very  long 
time  ago  adopted  the  White  Russian  or  Polish 
language,  as,  for  instance,  the  territories  of 
Jacvingi  to  the  south  from  the  Niemen;  or 
the  eastern  countries  of  the  government  of 
Vilna,  where  there  is  no  wide  area  using  the 
Lithuanian  language,  and  therefore  no  hope 
of  return  to  the  Lithuanian  language  of  their 
forefathers.  The  more  of  those  denationalized 
sections  that  we  receive  into  a  Lithuanian 
state  the  greater  White  Russian  influence  they 
will  exercise  on  the  pure  Lithuanian  nation. 
We    must    satisfy  ourselves  with    the    border- 


PRESENT  NATIONAL  ASPIRATIONS  85 

lands  where  the  Lithuanian  language  is  used 
widely,  if  not  entirel}^,  wherever  these  border- 
lands are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  natural 
and  strategical  frontiers  of  the  state.  The 
state  should  include  not  onl}'^  the  ethnographic 
parts  of  Lithuania  that  belonged  till  lately 
to  Russia,  but  also  the  terrain  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Niemen,  now  under  Prussia,  where  the 
Lithuanian  language  is  used.  Control  of  the 
mouth  is  essential  to  the  future  Lithuanian 
state,  because  the  Niemen  is  the  only  navigable 
river  that  flows  through  Lithuania;  the  mouth 
of  the  Niemen  is  Lithuania's  only  exit  to  the  sea 
and  to  all  the  world;  and  as  the  regions  about  it 
are  inhabited  by  Lithuanians,  to  take  it  from 
Lithuania  would  he  maliciously  to  shut  off  Lithu- 
ania from  communication  with  the  world. 

The  Lithuanian  state  should  comprise  the 
territories  inhabited  by  the  Lithuanian  race 
for  thousands  of  years.  If  there  are  some 
stretches  with  inhabitants  who  accepted  other 
languages,  there  remain  between  them  other 
stretches  where  the  Lithuanian  language  of 
their  forefathers  is  preserved;  and  these  very 
same  people,  even  though  they  use  a  different 
language,  are  by  race  and  blood  Lithuanians, 


86        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

as  much  so  as  those  of  the  centre  of  Lithuanian 
territory.  They  will  not  imperil  the  true  Lithu- 
anian nationalism;  but  without  those  border- 
lands Lithuania  cannot  possess  any  satisfac- 
tory natural  frontiers  to  her  national  terri- 
tory. 

*     *     * 

Let  us  by  no  means  form  a  nation  of  many 
languages.  To  do  that  would  be  to  take  the 
road  to  disorder,  denationalization,  and  final 
national  annihilation.  A  nation  with  several 
languages  can  exist  only  through  one  common 
religion,  for  which  it  is  persecuted  by  others; 
or  through  one  government  that  has  developed 
in  the  course  of  ages:  as  soon  as  this  govern- 
ment falls,  it  is  impossible  to  gather  together 
the  parts  that  speak  different  languages.  Let 
us  Lithuanians  rather  renounce  those  that  are 
denationalized  already,  and  let  us  remain  with 
one  language,  the  language  that  was  not  bor- 
rowed from  the  foreigner,  but  was  constructed 
by  our  race  and  was  formed  through  ages  to- 
gether with  the  formation  of  our  Lithuanian 
nation.  The  language  is  the  life  of  our  nation; 
in  it  is  preserved  the  living  spirit  of  our  fore- 
fathers.     We   cannot,   we   should   not,    accept 


PRESENT  NATIONAL  ASPIRATIONS    87 

any  Polish  or  White  Russian  language  as  OUJ" 
national  language.  We  should  remember  that 
by  introducing  a  few  languages  in  a  given  terri- 
tory we  greatly  burden  the  people  in  their 
educational  work  and  in  their  affairs  with  the 
government.  Not  long  ago,  when  Russia  was 
agitated  by  the  question  of  Poland's  autonomy, 
the  Poles  demanded  that  the  government  of 
Souvalki  should  belong  to  their  autonomous 
territory,  and  that  the  Polish  language  should 
be  used  in  common  with  Russian  in  this  terri- 
tory of  the  Lithuanian  language,  so  that  each 
Lithuanian  citizen  would  have  been  obliged 
to  know  three  languages,  Lithuanian,  Polish, 
and  Russian;  otherwise,  he  would  have  been 
left  actually  without  rights,  and  could  not 
have  taken  part  even  in  his  township  affairs.  Is 
it  reasonable  to  demand  of  the  peasants  a  knowl- 
edge of  so  many  languages,  that  in  other  coun- 
tries is  not  demanded  of  even  the  well-educated 
people  ?  Is  it  necessary  to  impose  such  a  non- 
sensical burden  on  those  people  in  or^er  to 
satisfy  the  fantastic  dreams  of  Polish  poli- 
ticians ? 

Such    is    our    attitude    toward    foreign   lan- 
guages and  relations  to  our  neighbors.     Neither 


88        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

with  Poles  nor  with  Russians  should  we  have 
any  political  ties.  The  Lithuanian  nation 
has  already  been  bound  to  both  of  them  by 
such  ties  for  several  hundreds  of  years.  Let 
that  suffice. 

We  have  no  special  economic  interest  in 
Poland.  Ours  is  an  agricultural  country,  Po- 
land is  the  same.  Our  exports  we  shall  market 
better  in  other  countries  of  western  Europe. 
Up  to  now  we  received  our  imports  mainly 
through  Riga  and  Moscow.  It  would  be  more 
wholesome  for  Lithuania  if  the  cultural  ties 
with  Poland  were  broken  altogether.  United 
with  Poles,  we  should  fear  undesirable  influences 
and  the  weakening  of  our  independence.  It 
is  clear,  then,  that  the  uniting  of  Poland  and 
Lithuania  is  not  to  the  interest  of  Lithuanians. 
We  have  spoken  before  about  receiving  White 
Russians  into  the  Lithuanian  state.  The  Poles 
and  Russians  are  foreigners  to  us;  let  each  of 
us  therefore  live  by  ourselves,  and  if  there  is  a 
need  for  economic  relations  they  could  be  ar- 
ranged according  to  the  practices  of  other  neigh- 
boring, sovereign  and  independent  states. 

On  the  other  hand,  our  relations  with  the 
Letts  should  be  closer.     If  Lithuania  and  Lett- 


PRESENT  NATIONAL  ASPIRATIONS  89 

land  both  become  states,  then  a  union  of  both 
these  states  would  be  mutually  advantageous. 
Lithuanians  and  Letts  are  people  of  the  same 
race,  even  their  names  are  of  the  same  linguistic 
origin.  Our  languages  even  now  are  so  closely 
akin  to  one  another  that  they  differ  no  more 
than  various  German  dialects  of  the  south 
and  north.  The  only  difference  is  that  history 
has  united  the  German  dialects  of  north  and 
south,  and  divided  the  Lithuanian  and  Lettish. 
True,  history  has  made  us  different  nations;  we 
could  not  be  fully  united,  for  then  each  one 
would  wish  to  have  the  upper  hand,  and  we 
should  mutually  injure  ourselves.  But  we 
could  live  together  in  two  states,  united  on 
equal  terms,  each  one  attending  to  its  internal 
affairs,  and  in  external  affairs  both  acting  to- 
gether, each  exerting  on  the  other  a  useful 
national  influence.  In  our  economic  affairs 
we  would  agree.  We  occupy  contiguous  terri- 
tory, the  Letts  holding  the  seacoast.  In  a 
union  with  the  Letts  we  would  reap  the  bene- 
fit of  the  sea  trade,  and  their  seaports  would 
have  a  larger  hinterland.  If  both  nations  were 
independent  of  foreigners  and  united  more 
closely,  the    mutual    cultural    influence  would 


90       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

strengthen  them  against  foreign  encroach- 
ment, would  purify  and  strengthen  the  Lithu- 
anian-Lettish spirit,  and  also  the  language  of 
both.  The  national  traditions  forgotten  by  the 
one  or  the  other  would  revive  by  mutual  influ- 
ence. We  are  the  only  two  sister-nations  in  the 
world,  and  neither  one  is  populous. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

IS  LITHUANIA,  AS  A  STATE,  POSSIBLE?  ABILITY  OF 
LITHUANIANS  FOR  STATESMANSHIP;  THE  RIGHT 
TO  INDEPENDENCE  OF  NATIONS  WHICH  HAVE 
LOST  OR  HAVE  NEVER  HAD  THEIR  OWN  GOV- 
ERNMENT; THE  FATE  OF  SMALL  NATIONS  IN 
FOREIGN  STATES  (VIZ.,  RUSSIA);  HAVE  THE 
LITHUANIANS  A  SUFFICIENT  NUMBER  OF  EDU- 
CATED MEN  TO  CONDUCT  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF 
STATE?  AREA  AND  POPULATION  OF  LITHUANIA 
COMPARED  WITH  THE  DIFFERENT  INDEPEN- 
DENT EUROPEAN  STATES 

IS  Lithuania  as  a  state  possible  ? 
That  the  Lithuanian  nation  can  organ- 
ize a  state  and  direct  it  is  amply  demon- 
strated by  its  history.  The  Lithuanian  nation 
in  this  has  shown  greater  abilities  than  many 
other  European  nations.  With  the  exception  of 
the  Franks  it  is  the  only  example  in  Europe  of 
a  comparatively  small  nation  organizing  itself 
into  a  state  and  taking  under  its  dominion  na- 
tions many  times  larger  than  itself.  And  in  its 
many  conquests  it  is  not  submerged  after  mix- 
ture with  those  conquered  nations,  as  happened 

91 


92        THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

in  the  case  of  the  Franks.  Lithuania  has  estab- 
Hshed  her  government  over  others  and  has 
composed  a  code  of  laws  (Lithuanian  Statute, 
1529)  when  other  European  nations  with  older 
states  than  hers  were  making  only  feeble  at- 
tempts in  this  direction.  The  Lithuanian 
statute  is  not  the  amateur  creation  of  an  in- 
dividual, such  as  Sachsenspiegel  (about  1230 
A.  D.),  but  an  authoritative  code  of  laws  pub- 
lished by  a  state. 

It  was  said  by  an  American  daily  paper  that 
the  Lithuanians,  who  had  not  formed  a  state 
of  their  own  for  over  five  hundred  years  and 
were  only  a  part  of  Poland,  now  desired  to  be- 
come a  state.  The  implication  is  that  the  Lith- 
uanians, who  lost  their  statehood  so  long  ago, 
should  not  even  now  possess  it  and  that  the 
most  appropriate  place  for  Lithuanians  would 
be  within  the  borders  of  a  Polish  kingdom. 
Every  one  can  see  in  whose  interest  such  ideas 
are  spread.  Five  hundred  years  ago  in  Lithu- 
ania Vitautas  was  reigning,  and  he  was  the 
most  powerful  monarch  in  all  eastern  Europe. 
But  here,  perhaps,  one  remembers  the  dis- 
position made  by  Jagela  in  Krevo.  If  history 
is  understood  in  such  a  way  then  there  is  no 


LITHUANIA  AS  A  STATE  93 

use  in  argument.  I  have  demonstrated  that 
Lithuania  was  a  sovereign  state  until  1795  and 
only  after  the  union  of  Lublin  (1560)  had  she 
a  real  union  with  Poland. 

If  we  deny  the  rights  of  a  nation  to  be  also 
a  state  on  such  grounds,  then  Nor^vay  in  1905, 
without  the  least  right,  had  desired  to  be  in- 
dependent, and  separated  from  Sweden.  From 
the  union  of  Colmar  (in  1397)  Norway  was, 
without  an  interval,  in  union  with  Denmark. 
The  Norwegian  nation  has  acquired  the  Dan- 
ish language,  has  forgotten  its  own  Norwegian 
language;  and  it  is  only  one  hundred  years 
since  Sweden  took  Norway  from  Denmark  by 
war  in  January,  18 14.  According  to  the  author 
of  the  opinion  quoted  about  Lithuania,  Nor- 
way, if  she  does  not  wish  to  be  with  Sweden, 
should  be  returned  to  Denmark.  Finally,  the 
Norwegian  nation  is  not  numerous.  On  the 
declaration  of  its  independence  it  had  in  its 
territory  2,240,000  inhabitants  (according  to 
statistics  of  1900),  and  these  same  people  did 
not  know  Norwegian,  but  were  using  the  Dan- 
ish language,  just  as  some  Lithuanians  now 
speak  Polish  in  Lithuania.  And  yet  Norway  is 
now  independent. 


94       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

Hungary  and  Bohemia,  when  the  rights  of 
succession  to  the  throne  of  both  states  rested 
with  Archduke  Ferdinand,  brother  of  Emperor 
Charles  V,  entered  into  union  in  1526  and  have 
remained  in  such  a  relation  to  Austria,  as  Lithu- 
ania had  to  Poland,  up  to  our  times.  Only  in 
1867  did  Austria  grant  to  Hungary  the  present 
satisfactory  constitution.  After  the  collapse  of 
the  Bohemian  uprising  at  the  White  Mountain, 
near  Praga,  in  1620,  Bohemian  independence 
was  altogether  destroyed  and  the  Bohemian 
nation  was  the  slave  of  Austria  until  now. 
The  Allied  states,  however,  warring  on  the 
Central  Powers,  recognize  the  just  Bohemian 
aspirations;  they  recognize  the  necessity  of 
freeing  the  Slovaks,  who  never  have  formed  an 
independent  state,  but  belonged  for  over  one 
thousand  years  to  Hungary.  Not  long  ago 
Slovak  Louis  Kossuth  was  the  great  patriot 
of  Hungary. 

Serbians,  Bulgarians,  Roumanians,  Greeks 
have  been  under  the  severest  oppression  since 
the  victorious  migrations  of  the  Turks  to 
Europe  after  the  fall  of  Adrianople  (1365), 
Kosovo  battle  (1389),  and  the  capture  of  Con- 
stantinople (1453);  only  in  1829  some  of  them, 


LITHUANIA  AS  A  STATE  95 

and  only  in  a  small  part  of  territory  inhabited 
by  them,  gained  their  partial  independence. 
The  Congress  of  Berlin  (1878)  pushed  slightly 
forward  the  work  of  liberating  and  uniting 
these  nations.  Even  now,  Serbia,  Bosnia, 
Herzegovina,  and  Croatia  may  not  have  the 
right  to  unite  for  the  sole  reason  that  for  many 
centuries  they  were  exploited  and  oppressed 
by  others,  although  all  these  provinces  are 
parts  of  a  single  Serbo-Croatian  nation.  The 
Roumanians  of  Transylvania  and  Bessarabia 
are  the  same  as  the  inhabitants  of  Moldavia 
and  Wallachia;  why  should  not  they,  being  all 
Roumanians,  possess  the  right  to  unite  and 
govern  themselves  ^ 

The  peoples  of  Italy  had  been  disunited  since 
the  fall  of  Rome.  What  right  had  the  Italian 
patriots  in  1860-1870  to  abolish  all  the  small 
states  existing  up  to  that  time  in  Italy  and  to 
form  from  them  one  Italy  that  had  no  existence 
before,  and  to  unite  therein  Italian  peoples, 
which  until  then  had  been  always  divided  into 
small  dukedoms  and  little  republics,  or  ruled 
by  foreign  conquerors  ? 

All  agree  that  the  Finnish  nation  should  be 
independent,    although    Finland   never  was    a 


96       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

separate  state.  One  hundred  years  ago  Rus- 
sia, by  war,  took  her  from  Sweden  and  granted 
her  autonomy;  before  that  Finland  was  only 
part  of  Sweden. 

If  the  Lithuanian  nation  should  belong  to 
the  Pohsh  state  for  the  reason  that  one  hun- 
dred years  ago  Lithuania  was  in  union  with 
Poland,  so  much  more  should  Poland  belong 
to  the  Russian  state,  because  during  the  entire 
last  century  she  was  part  of  Russia.  But  all 
agree  that  the  Polish  nation  has  a  right  to  form 
its  own  independent  state;  then  why  should 
the  Polish  politicians  menace  the  freedom  of 
other  nations.?  The  Lithuanian  nation  has  the 
same  rights  to  the  union  of  all  its  parts  and  to 
independence  as  have  all  the  other  nations 
cited.  To  Lithuanian  demands  for  indepen- 
dence the  bureaucrats  of  Imperial  Russia  re- 
joined that  in  that  case  it  would  be  necessary 
to  grant  independence  to  the  Samoyeds.  In 
other  words,  there  are  in  Russia  larger  and 
smaller  nations  not  of  Russian  extraction,  and 
the  Russian  state  would  suffer  by  returning  to 
them  or  granting  them  their  former  indepen- 
dence. To  this  we  answer,  that  there  is  no  use 
in  speaking  about  the  independence  of  Samo- 


LITHUANIA  AS  A  STATE         97 

yeds,  Chukchi,  and  Kamchadales  who  live  in 
Siberia  on  the  shores  of  Behring  Sea,  so  long  as 
these  people  themselves  do  not  propose  it  and 
are  not  conscious  of  having  certain  objects, 
to  satisfy  which  they  would  need  indepen- 
dence. We  appreciate  the  difficulty  of  the 
Russian  statesmen  in  the  solving  the  riddle  of 
foreign  nationalities  in  such  a  way  that  they 
shall  not  injure  those  nations  or  the  Russian 
nation.  Independence  will  not  be  needed  by 
all  the  foreign  nations  of  Russia,  especially 
those  that  are  very  small  and  hold  a  difficult 
geographical  position;  for  such,  autonomy  will 
suffice,  or  even  more  or  less  home  rule.  But 
we  cannot  refrain  from  demanding  that  which 
belongs  to  us  and  which  is  practicable;  to  do 
otherwise  would  be  to  sin  against  justice;  being 
injured  by  others  we  should  injure  ourselves. 

Some  Pan-Germans,  answering  the  Lithu- 
anian demands  for  independence,  called  Lithu- 
anians "Bauervolk,"  the  peasant  nation,  im- 
plying that  they  had  too  few  intelligent  men, 
skilful  in  administrative  work,  to  direct  the 
state.  Our  answer  is:  The  Bulgarians  and 
Serbians  on  the  formation  of  their  states  were 
a  peasant  people,  and  had  fewer  educated  men 


98       THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

than  the  Lithuanians  now  possess.  Let  us 
take,  for  example,  the  Bulgarians;  from  1878, 
the  year  of  the  Congress  of  Berlin,  until  1912, 
thirty-four  years,  they  have  become  a  complete 
nation,  and  only  lately  they  conquered  their 
former  lords,  the  Turks !  The  Bulgarian  edu- 
cated classes  and  their  statesmen  are  not  in- 
ferior to  the  corresponding  classes  of  Turkey. 
Without  independence,  would  the  Bulgarians, 
under  the  Turkish  rule,  have  progressed  so 
much  ?  Armenia  was  doomed  to  remain  under 
Turkey,  after  the  Berlin  Congress.  Could 
she  be  compared  now  to  Bulgaria .?  True, 
the  Germans  have  not  found  many  educated 
Lithuanians  in  the  conquered  territory  of  Lithu- 
ania lately,  but  we  should  remember  the  cir- 
cumstances. Before  the  war  there  were  a  con- 
siderable number  of  educated  Lithuanians  in 
Lithuania,  but  they  were  mostly  of  the  younger 
generation,  under  obligation  to  serve  in  the 
Russian  army.  True,  there  were  not  too  many 
Lithuanians  experienced  in  the  administrative 
branch  of  government,  and  those  few  who 
were  in  the  heart  of  Russia,  because  until  the 
first  revolution  (1905)  Lithuanians  absolutely 
were  not  admitted  to  any  government  position 


LITHUANIA  AS  A  STATE  99 

in  their  own  country,  Lithuania.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  all  the  younger  generation 
were  drafted  into  the  army.  In  the  Russian 
army  there  were  numerous  officers,  doctors, 
and  other  well-educated  Lithuanians.  Upon 
the  occupation  of  Lithuania  by  the  German 
army,  the  Russian  Government  had  ordered 
evacuation  not  only  by  the  regular  govern- 
mental officials  but  by  the  officials  of  counties, 
districts,  private  schools,  banks,  factories,  and 
indeed  by  all  inhabitants.  The  German  army 
of  occupation  has  found  only  those  in  Lithu- 
ania who  could  not  be  brought  to  leave  their 
country  except  by  force,  and  whom  the  Rus- 
sian army  had  no  time  to  drive  out.  If  there 
were  some  educated  Lithuanians  in  the  govern- 
mental positions  or  private  institutions,  they 
had  to  move  upon  the  transfer  of  said  institu- 
tions to  Russia;  otherwise  they  would  have 
been  left  without  the  means  of  living.  Not- 
withstanding the  present  lack  of  educated 
Lithuanians  now  in  Lithuania,  Lithuanians 
have  their  educated  classes  in  Europe  as  well 
as  in  America;  they  have  a  number  of  officials 
experienced  in  the  administration  in  Russia 
or   in   Lithuania,    even   officers   of  the    army; 


100      THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

they  have  educated  men  working  in  the  edu- 
cational spheres  and  in  manufacture.  In  the 
period  of  greater  freedom,  since  1905,  Lithu- 
anians organized  and  were  conducting  their 
private  institutions  of  learning,  their  factories, 
their  trade,  and  their  credit  institutions.  After 
the  war,  when  the  Lithuanian  nation  is  al- 
lowed to  organize  as  an  independent  state,  all 
the  educated  classes  of  that  nation  will  return 
to  Lithuania,  Even  now,  during  a  state  of 
war  when  the  future  of  Lithuania  is  uncertain, 
educated  Lithuanians  in  Russia  are  organizing 
for  the  return  to  their  Motherland.  To  that 
end  all  the  energies  of  educated  Lithuanians 
in  America  will  also  be  turned.  Their  present 
state  of  mind  indicates  that  numerous  edu- 
cated Lithuanians  of  America  will  return  to 
Lithuania  even  at  risk  of  great  loss  in  order 
to  help  their  Motherland  in  her  first  steps 
toward  independence.  We  acknowledge  that 
such  doubts  about  Lithuania  have  arisen 
in  the  minds  of  certain  statesmen  without 
ill-will  toward  Lithuanians;  but  we  must  not 
forget  that  the  hidden  desire  of  the  stronger 
nations  to  hold  the  weaker  ones  in  subjection 
though  the  latter  would  possess  their  national 


LITHUANIA  AS  A   STATE        loi 

self-consciousness  and  desire  to  be  independent, 
is  not  without  influence,  and  very  often  sug- 
gests objections  against  the  freedom  of  the 
weaker  nations.  It  is  hard  for  a  man,  a  member 
of  a  self-conscious  but  subjected  nation,  to 
witness  the  degradation  and  the  injuries  of 
his  nation;  but  it  is  also  difl&cult  for  a  member 
of  a  great  and  powerful  nation,  especially  for 
an  individual  directing  the  affairs  of  one,  to 
understand  the  needs  of  the  weaker  nations. 
Seeing  their  nation  powerful  and  exalted,  it  is 
natural  for  them  scornfully  to  regard  those 
that  are  weak  and  always  humiliated,  as  not 
worthy  of  anything  better.  They  forget  that 
all  men  have  the  same  nature;  that  in  all  na- 
tions there  are  bad  and  good  traits,  and  that 
the  power  of  the  great  nations  depends  mainly 
on  the  extent  of  their  population.  Even  among 
nations  there  are  Diveses  who  feast  sumptu- 
ously, and  there  are  famished  Lazaruses;  but  it 
IS  difficult  to  find  Samaritans  to  extend  their 
helping  hands  to  the  wounded  nations;  nearly 
every  stronger  nation,  able  to  harm  a  weaker 
nation,  yields  to  the  temptation  to  do  so.  But 
democracy  in  all  the  phases  of  human  life,  even 
in  the  policies  of  states  and  in  the  affairs  of 


102      THE  UTHUANIAN  NATION 

nations,  always  progresses  and  expands.  The 
slogan  of  the  present  war  was  the  overthrow 
of  the  arrogant  conquerors.  Great  honor  is 
due  the  statesman  who  said  that  Hberty  should 
be  returned  even  to  those  that  were  conquered, 
because  **no  people  must  be  forced  under 
sovereignty  under  which  it  does  not  wish  to 
live."*  Surely,  the  time  must  come  when  the 
slavery  of  nations  will  be  abolished  as  humanity 
in  its  progress  arrived  at  the  abolition  of  indi- 
vidual slavery. 

As  to  the  territory  of  Lithuania,  her  area 
and  the  number  of  inhabitants  are  not  at  all 
too  small  for  the  formation  of  a  state.  I  will 
quote  the  statistics  for  both  from  The  States- 
man's Year-Book  of  1914.  The  area  is  com- 
puted in  the  English  square  mile.  Within  the 
boundaries  of  Lithuania  is  the  whole  govern- 
ment of  Kovno,  two-thirds  of  the  government  of 
Vilna,  not  all  the  government  of  Souvalki,  but  as 
much  is  included  from  the  Grodno  Government 
as  is  left  out  of  Souvalki  Government.  There- 
fore, we  shall  compute  all  the  Souvalki  Govern- 
ment and  shall  not  count  the  Grodno  Govern- 

*  President  Wilson's  notable  communication  to  the  Russian 
people,  June,  1917. 


LITHUANIA  AS  A  STATE 


103 


ment.     The  area  under  Prussian  rule  is  nearly 
half  as  large  as  the  Souvalki  Government. 


Area 
Square 
Miles 

Population 

Population 

per  Square 

Mile 

Kovno  Government 

Two-thirds  Vilna 

Souvalki  and  part  Grodno 

Governments 

Prussian-Lithuania 

Whole  Lithuania  about.  . 

15,518 
10,787 

4,750 
2,375 

1,819,000 
1,326,600 

693,000 
300,000 

116 
121 

143 

33,430 

4,138,600 

125 

average 

Now  we  quote  the  area  and  inhabitants  of 
the  Lettland: 


Area 
Square 
Miles 

Population 

Population 

per  Square 

Mile 

Courland  Government. . . 
One-half    Livonia     Gov- 
ernment  

10,435 
8,787 
5,661 

758,800 
740,000 
625,000 

72 

84 

109 

One-third    Vitebsk    Gov- 
ernment  

Whole  Lettland 

24,883 

2,123,800 

85 

average 

Let  us  now  compare  the  statistics  of  smaller 
European  states,  excluding  the  seven  largest 
states.    I  do  not  speak  of  San  Marino,  Andora, 


104     THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

Monaco,  Lichtenstein;  those  are  anomalies: 
their  people  do  not  form  a  separate  nation  and 
have  no  other  raison  d'etre;  they  are  curiosities 
of  history.  Nor  should  I  mention  the  smaller 
duchies  in  the  German  Empire  having  hun- 
dreds of  square  miles  and  a  few  hundred  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  These  are  merely  adminis- 
trative parts  of  Germany,  and  their  Dukes  are 
the  heads  of  counties  with  the  right  of  succes- 
sion. But  let  us  take  the  states  whose  popula- 
tions have  the  significance  of  a  nation. 

Greece  before  the  war  of  1912-1913  had  an 
area  of  25,000  square  miles  and  a  population  of 
2,700,000.  In  1 88 1,  even  with  the  recently  ac- 
quired Thessaly,  there  were  only  1,974,000  in- 
habitants. 

Serbia  before  the  war  of  1912-1913  had  an 
area  of  18,650  square  miles  and  a  population  of 
2,912,000,  of  whom  163,000  were  not  Serbians. 
Only  after  the  last  war  did  Serbia  equal  Lithu- 
ania, with  an  area  of  33,890  square  miles  and 
4,548,000  inhabitants. 

Bulgaria  before  the  war  of  1912-1913  had 
an  area  of  33,647  square  miles  with  4,337,000 
inhabitants — an  area  and  population  almost 
equal  to  Lithuania. 


LITHUANIA  AS  A  STATE         105 

Denmark  has  an  area  of  13,580  square  miles 
(including  the  territory  of  Faroe  Islands,  north 
of  England,  540  square  miles)  and  a  population 
of  2,775,000. 

Norway  has  an  area  of  124,445  square  miles 
and  2,392,000  inhabitants;  Holland  an  area  of 
12,650  square  miles  and  6,000,000  inhabitants; 
in  1829  there  were  only  2,613,000  inhabitants. 

Belgium  has  an  area  of  11,373  square  miles 
and  7,400,000  inhabitants;  Switzerland  an  area 
of  15,976  square  miles  and  3,781,000  inhabi- 
tants, of  whom  565,000  are  foreign  residents. 

Portugal  has  an  area  of  34,254  square  miles; 
Bavaria  an  area  of  29,290  square  miles  and  6,- 
890,000  inhabitants;  and  newly  created  Albania 
has  an  area  of  about  11,000  square  miles,  with 
about  800,000  inhabitants. 

But  if  Lithuania  should  form  a  federation 
with  Lettiand  then  there  would  be  a  large  and 
respectable  state;  Lithuania  with  33,430  square 
miles,  4,138,000  inhabitants,  Lettiand  with 
24,880  square  miles,  2,123,000  inhabitants; 
both  together,  58,300  square  miles,  6,260,000 
inhabitants. 

Sweden  has  a  population  of  5,600,000. 

Roumania  covers   50,720  square  miles   and 


io6     THE  LITHUANIAN  NATION 

has  a  population  of  7,000,000.    In  1899  she  had 
only  5,956,000  inhabitants. 

Lithuania's  geographical  position,  especially 
if  she  is  federated  with  Lettland,  could  be 
envied  by  many  nations.  One  has  only  to  look 
at  the  map  of  Europe.  The  territory  of  Lithu- 
ania-Lettland  is  in  the  very  centre  of  Europe 
on  the  way  of  the  best  communication  by  sea 
between  eastern  Europe  (Russia)  and  all  the 
western  world;  the  navigable  rivers  of  Niemen 
and  Dvina  flow  through  all  this  territory;  her 
ports  are  Memel,  Libau,  Vindau,  Riga.  Would 
it  not  be  better  if  Lithuania,  possessing  the 
largest  autonomy,  should  remain  united  with 
one  of  her  neighboring  large  states,  for  instance 
Russia .?  Such  a  question  is  most  injudicious. 
No  nation  voluntarily  goes  under  foreign  rule. 
If  Lithuania's  independence  is  possible,  then 
only  a  fool  or  a  traitor  would  vote  against  her 
independence.  The  nations  are  wronged  and 
eliminated  not  in  their  independence,  but  in 
their  subjection  to  other  nations.  If  Lithuania 
has  any  commercial  or  other  affairs  in  Russia 
or  Germany  then  these  affairs  could  be  safe- 
guarded better  by  international  treaties,  Lithu- 
ania  being   independent    from    both   of  them 


LITHUANIA  AS  A  STATE        107 

rather  than  a  slave  of  either  of  them.  The  ideal 
of  the  future  of  the  Lithuanians  is  a  complete, 
united  Lithuania,  a  free  Lithuania;  if  possible, 
in  confederation  with  the  equally  independent 
and  undivided  Lettland. 


APPENDIX 

AMERICAN  SYMPATHY  FOR  THE 
LITHUANIANS 

The  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War 
Sufferers,  under  its  principal  patron,  late  Cardinal 
Farley  of  New  York,  collecting  funds  for  war  suf- 
ferers, petitioned  President  Wilson  to  aid  the  Lithu- 
anian war  sufferers.  A  delegation  of  this  fund, 
with  the  aid  of  General  Collins,  of  Elizabeth, 
N.  J.,  had  an  audience  with  the  President  early  in 
June  asking  him  to  proclaim  by  executive  order  the 
day  on  which  funds  were  to  be  collected  for  the 
Lithuanian  war  sufferers.  President  Wilson,  at  this 
audience  as  well  as  in  his  letter  to  the  fund's  secre- 
tary, expressed  his  sympathy  for  the  Lithuanians 
but  stated  that  without  the  resolution  of  Congress 
he  could  not  do  this. 

The  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War 
Sufferers  arranged  for  a  series  of  mass-meetings  in 
and  around  New  York.  This  was  done  in  Penn- 
sylvania by  the  Lithuanians  with  the  aid  of  Con- 
gressman Casey.  The  purpose  being  to  bring  the 
misery  of  Lithuania  to  the  notice  of  Congress,  which 
soon  thereafter  passed  a  resolution  empowering  the 
President  to  proclaim  a  Lithuanian  day  for  No- 
vember I,  1916. 

A  Central  Committee  for  the  Relief  of  the  Lithu- 
109 


no  APPENDIX 

anian  War  Sufferers  was  organized  to  collect  funds 
on  this  day.    The  sum  of  ^200,000  was  collected. 

LITHUANIANS  INVOKE  THE  AID  OF 
PRESIDENT  WILSON 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  June  6th,  1916. 
The  following  resolution  was  drawn  up  by  Alder- 
man Gaynor,  of  New  York  City,  N.  Y.,  and  was 
presented  by  him  and  adopted  at  a  mass-meeting 
of  the  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War 
Sufferers,  duly  called  and  held  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
Monday,  June  6th,  1916. 

Whereas,  In  the  great  conflict  between  the  nations 
of  Europe,  our  Fatherland  has  been  devastated  and  its 
inhabitants  oppressed  and  large  numbers  slain  as  inno- 
cent sufferers  of  the  war;  and.  Whereas,  The  United 
States  of  America,  being  the  greatest  of  the  neutral 
powers  of  the  world,  wields  a  mighty  influence  with  the 
combatant  forces; 

Now,  THEREFORE,  We,  the  Rcv.  A.  M.  Milukas  and 
the  Rev.  M.  Pankauskas,  duly  authorized  delegates  of 
the  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War  Sufferers, 
having  migrated  from  our  native  land  of  Lithuania  to 
this  land  of  freedom  and  independence,  and  ever  pledging 
our  loyalty  to  this,  our  adopted  country,  sincerely  be- 
lieving and  protecting  the  principles  of  America,  being 
nevertheless  in  sympathy  with  our  unfortunate  brothers 
in  the  Fatherland,  in  the  name  of  our  people  earnestly 
pray  and  implore  His  Excellency,  Woodrow  Wilson,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  the  members 
of  his  official  family,  to  use  their  best  efforts,  powers,  and 


THE    WH  ITE    HOUSE 

WASHINGTON 


June  10,   1916 

My  dear  Mr.  Mllu}sa8: 

I  looked  up  the  matter  you  mexrtioned 
to  me  atout  the  Issuance  of  proclaniatioiis  for 
Polish  and  Jewish  relief  from  my  office  and  find 
that   such  proclamations  were  Issued,  as  you 
stated,  hut  "both  in  pursuance  of  special   reso- 
IVitions  "by  the  Senate  request iiig  that   I  set  a 
day  aside  for  those  purposes.     I  have  in  no 
case  felt  at   liberty  to  issue  such  a  proclama- 
tion on  my  o-wn  initiative;  that    is  the  reason 
that  niy  recollection  in  that  matter  was  so  clear. 

I  am  none  the  less   sincerely  sorry 
that   I  oannot  comply  with  a  request  to  which  my 
heart  accedes. 

Cordially  and  sincerely  yours. 


Rev.  A.  M.  Miluikas,  Secretary,     ^  ^ *^ 
American  Relief  Fund 

For  Lithuanian  War  Sufferers, 
Etespeth,  Long  Island,  New  York. 


APPENDIX  III 

influence  to  bring  about  an  ending  of  this  great  war,  or 
at  least  to  alleviate  the  suffering  and  to  safeguard  the 
rights,  homes,  and  lives  of  oppressed  Lithuania  by  diplo- 
matic negotiations,  as  in  their  wise  discretion  may  seem 
best; 

And  Be  It  Further  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this 
resolution,  engrossed  and  authenticated  by  the  President 
and  Secretary  of  the  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian 
War  Sufferers,  be  forwarded  to  His  Excellency,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  he  be  asked  to 
set  a  day  apart  for  the  contributions  of  our  people  and  the 
friends  of  our  undying  race,  the  Lithuanians,  to  aid  them 
to  survive  this  great  conflict. 

Attest:  Rev.  B.  Zindzius,  President. 

A.  M.  MiLUKAS,  Secretary. 

THE  AMERICAN  RELIEF  FUND  FOR  LITHU- 
ANIAN WAR  SUFFERERS  PLEADING  FOR 
LITHUANIA 

RESOLUTIONS  PETITIONING  BOTH  HOUSES  OF  CON- 
GRESS TO  EXPRESS  SYMPATHY  FOR  LITHUANIA, 
IRELAND,  UKRAINIA,   BOHEMIA,  POLAND,   ETC. 

During  the  months  of  June  and  July  of  1916  the 
American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War  Sufferers 
arranged  for  a  series  of  mass-meetings  in  the  States 
of  Nev\^  York,  New^  Jersey,  Connecticut,  and  Penn- 
sylvania :  in  W^aterbury,  Bridgeport,  Newr  Haven, 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  Elizabeth,  etc.  We  wish  to 
call  especial  attention  to  the  first  of  these  meetings 
— at  Newark,  N.  J. 

On  June  17,  1916,  the  mass-meeting  at  Newark, 


112  APPENDIX 

N.  J.,  was  addressed  by  Major-General  F.  J.  Col- 
lins, of  Elizabeth,  N.  J.;  City  Solicitor  M.  Eraser, 
and  Rev.  A.  Milukas,  secretary  of  the  American 
Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War  Sufferers,  the  latter 
presiding.  More  than  five  thousand  Lithuanians 
unanimously  adopted  the  resolutions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Relief  Fund. 

These  mass-meetings  were  addressed  by  the  offi- 
cers of  the  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian 
War  Sufferers  (Revs.  A.  Kodis,  J.  Shestokas,  A. 
Milukas,  M.  Pankauskas). 

The  following  resolutions  were  unanimously 
adopted: 

Whereas,  In  the  great  conflict  between  the  nations  of 
Europe,  our  Fatherland  has  been  devastated  and  its  in- 
habitants oppressed  and  large  numbers  slain  as  innocent 
sufferers  of  the  war;  and 

Whereas,  The  United  States  of  America,  being  the 
greatest  of  the  neutral  Powers  of  the  world,  wields  a 
mighty  influence  with  the  combatant  forces; 

Now,  therefore,  we,  the  Lithuanians  of  Waterbury,* 
Conn.,  gathered  at  the  mass-meeting  under  the  auspices 
of  the  American  Relief  Fund  for  the  Lithuanian  War  Suf- 
ferers, having  migrated  from  our  native  land,  Lithuania, 
to  this  land  of  freedom  and  independence,  and  ever  pledg- 
ing our  loyalty  to  this,  our  adopted  country,  sincerely  be- 
lieving and  living  up  to  the  principles  of  America,  being 
nevertheless  in  sympathy  with  our  unfortunate  brethren 
in  the  Fatherland,  in  the  name  of  our  people  earnestly 
pray    and    implore   our   State's    representatives   in    both 

*  Or  Bayonne,  Bridgeport,  New  Philadelphia,  New  York, 
Brooklyn,  Long  Island  City,  Newark,  New  Haven. 


APPENDIX  113 

Houses  of  Congress  to  use  their  best  efforts,  powers,  and 
influence  to  bring  about  an  ending  to  this  great  war,  and 
to  alleviate  the  suffering  and  to  safeguard  the  rights, 
homes,  and  lives  of  the  oppressed  Lithuania  by  diplo- 
matic negotiations,  as  in  their  wise  providence  may  deem 
best. 

And  Be  It  Further.  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this 
resolution,  engrossed  and  authenticated  by  the  officers  of 
the  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War  Sufferers 
(Rev.  B.  Zindzius,  president;  Rev.  M.  Pankauskas,  vice- 
president;  Rev.  A.  Kodis,  financial  secretary;  Rev.  J. 
Shestokas,  treasurer;  and  Rev.  A.  M.  Milukas,  secretary); 
also  Messrs.  Frank  Luza  and  Anthony  Karpaviczus,*  be 
forwarded  to  the  Representatives  from  our  State  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and 
they  be  asked  to  pass  a  resolution  setting  apart  a  day  for 
contributions  to  our  suffering  brethren,  and  that  American 
diplomatic  agents  be  directed  to  use  their  best  efforts  at 
the  Peace  Conference  for  the  restoration  of  independence 
to  Lithuania,  as  well  as  to  other  oppressed  nations,  as 
Ireland,  Ukrainia,  Bohemia,  Poland,  etc. 


CONGRESSIONAL  RECORD 

House  of  Representatives 

Friday,  July  21,  1916,  pp.  13 191,  13 192 

Aid  for  Lithuanians 

Mr.  Flood.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  ask  unanimous  con- 
sent to  take  affairs  to  designate  a  day  on  which  the 
people  of  this  country  may  express  their  sympathy 

*  In  other  localities  other  names  were  substituted. 


114  APPENDIX 

by  contributing  toward  the  relief  of  the  Lithuanians 
in  the  war  zone. 

The  Speaker.  The  gentleman  from  Virginia  asks 
unanimous  consent  to  take  up  House  Resolution 
258  to  designate  a  day  for  taking  up  collections  for 
the  Lithuanians  in  the  war  zone.  Is  there  objec- 
tion ? 

Mr.  Mann.    Let  us  have  the  resolution  reported. 

The  clerk  read  as  follows: 

House  Resolution  258 

Whereas,  In  the  various  countries  now  engaged  in 
war  there  are  four  millions  of  Lithuanians,  the  great  ma- 
jority of  whom  are  destitute  of  food,  shelter,  and  cloth- 
ing; and 

Whereas,  Millions  of  them  have  been  driven  from 
their  homes  without  warning,  deprived  of  an  opportunity 
to  make  provision  for  their  most  elementary  wants, 
causing  starvation,  disease,  and  untold  suffering;  and 

Whereas,  The  people  of  the  United  States  of  America 
have  learned  with  sorrow  of  this  plight  of  millions  of 
human  beings  and  have  most  generously  responded  to 
the  cry  for  help  wherever  such  an  opportunity  has  reached 
them; 

Therefore  be  it  resolved.  That  in  view  of  the  misery, 
wretchedness,  and  hardships  which  these  four  millions 
of  Lithuanians  are  suffering  the  President  of  the  United 
States  be  respectfully  asked  to  designate  a  day  on  which 
the  citizens  of  this  country  may  give  expression  to  their 
sympathy  by  contributing  to  the  funds  now  being  raised 
for  the  relief  of  the  Lithuanians  in  the  war  zone. 

The  Speaker.     Is  there  objection  } 

Mr.    Mann.     Reserving   the    right    to   object,    I 


APPENDIX  115 

would  like  to  inquire  whether  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs  proposes  also  to  report  a  resolution 
into  the  House  in  reference  to  the  American  citi- 
zens whose  property  has  been  destroyed  and  many 
of  whose  families  have  lost  a  member,  all  having 
been  driven  out  of  Mexico — whether  we  are  going 
to  do  anything  for  our  own  citizens  driven  out  of 
Mexico  while  we  are  doing  something  for  foreign 
citizens. 

Mr.  Flood.  When  the  time  arrives  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs  will  report  a  resolution  to  take 
care  of  American  citizens  who  have  been  in  Mexico 
and  whose  rights  of  property  and  person  have  been 
invaded. 

Mr.  Mann.  American  citizens  who  have  been 
driven  out  of  Mexico  and  starving  to  death. 

Mr.  Flood.     None  of  them  are  starving. 

Mr.  Mann.  Oh,  yes;  many  of  them  have  noth- 
ing to  live  on  except  charity. 

Mr.  Flood.  The  government  has  provided  money 
to  bring  them  out,  all  who  are  in  there;  and  my  in- 
formation is  that  those  who  are  staying  there  are 
getting  along  comfortably. 

Mr.  Mann.  We  have  appropriated  money  to 
bring  them  out,  brought  them  up  to  the  border, 
and  dumped  them  down,  and  there  they  are.  Their 
property  has  been  lost  and  they  have  nothing  to 
live  on;  while  we  very  properly  are  donating  money 
for  the  Lithuanians  abroad,  we  are  doing  nothing 
for  our  own  people. 


ii6  APPENDIX 

Mr.  Flood.  Our  people  are  being  taken  care  of. 
If  the  gentleman  desires  to  introduce  a  resolution 
and  have  it  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs  I  assure  him  that  the  committee  will  promptly 
consider  it. 

Mr.  Cannon.  What  does  the  gentleman  mean  by 
saying  that  they  are  being  taken  care  of.? 

Mr.  Flood.  I  do  not  think  any  of  them  are  suf- 
fering. 

Mr.  Cannon.  Oh,  in  the  hearing  before  the  Com- 
mittee on  Appropriations  to  consider  a  bill  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  bringing  American  citizens  out,  it 
appeared  that  nothing  is  added  by  way  of  sub- 
sistence. They  are  released,  substantially,  when 
they  get  into  American  territory  and  dumped  upon 
the  charity  of  the  communities  where  they  are 
brought. 

Mr.  Flood.  Does  the  gentleman  know  of  any 
American  citizens  brought  out  of  Mexico  who  are 
now  suffering  for  something  to  eat  ? 

Mr.  Cannon.  Oh,  the  evidence  showed  that  they 
came  out  without  property  and  that  all  the  gov- 
ernment is  doing  is  to  get  them  out.  I  do  not  know 
their  names. 

Mr.  Flood.  No;  and  they  are  not  suffering. 
They  are  taken  care  of  just  as  indigent  people  in 
this  country  are  taken  care  of,  and  this  resolution 
does  not  propose  that  the  government  shall  take 
care  of  the  Lithuanians.  It  simply  proposes  to 
allow  charitable  Americans  who  feel  so  disposed  to 


APPENDIX  117 

make  contributions  to  a  fund  and  to  relieve  their 
suffering. 

Mr.  Cannon.  I  am  in  no  sense  opposing  the 
gentleman's  resolution.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
gentleman  has  Lithuanians  in  his  district. 

Mr.  Flood.     Not  a  single  one. 

Mr.  Cannon.  Well,  there  are  a  great  many  in 
my  district,  and  a  great  many  throughout  the 
North.  But  there  are  many  French  people,  there 
are  many  Irish,  there  are  many  Belgians,  there  are 
many  English,  though  not  so  many,  and  there  are 
many  Austrians  and  Hungarians,  and  why  does  not 
the  gentleman  bring  in  a  resolution  suggesting  to 
the  good  people  of  America  that  wherever  there  is 
suffering  in  the  war  zone  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water  they  have  the  liberty  to,  and  it  is  suggested 
that  they  do,  contribute  to  relieve  that  suffering, 
because  evidently  from  the  standpoint  of  humanity 
and  Christianity  and  charity  there  is  as  much  need 
for  the  relief  and  suffering  among  those  people 
where  they  are  fighting  in  concord  or  where  they 
are  fighting  each  other.  I  shall  not  object  to  the 
gentleman's  resolution,  but  I  suggest  there  are  a 
hundred  million  people  in  this  country,  and  it 
might  be  well  to  appeal  to  their  charity,  that 
all  of  the  suffering  in  the  war  zone  may  be  re- 
lieved. 

Mr.  Flood.  The  committee  that  reported  this 
resolution  will  be  glad  to  consider  any  such  resolu- 
tion that  the  gentleman  suggests. 


ii8  APPENDIX 

Mr.  Britten.  Mr.  Chairman,  will  the  gentleman 
yield  ? 

Mr.  Flood.     Yes. 

Mr.  Britten.  Did  I  understand  the  gentleman  to 
say  in  reply  to  my  colleague  from  Illinois  (Mr. 
Mann)  that  the  Americans  still  living  in  Mexico  are 
living  there  comfortably  ? 

Mr.  Flood.     Yes. 

Mr.  Britten.  What  information  has  the  gentle- 
man or  his  committee  that  Americans  living  in 
Mexico  are  living  there  comfortably  to-day  ? 

Mr.  Flood.  I  have  information  that  comes  from 
the  State  Department  that  there  are  no  Americans 
who  are  suffering. 

Mr.  Britten.  Then,  why  did  we  appropriate 
$300,000  to  bring  them  out,  if  they  are  living  there 
comfortably  ? 

Mr.  Flood.  Mr.  Speaker,  we  appropriated  the 
money  so  that  in  case  there  was  any  trouble  there 
which  would  endanger  their  lives,  they  might  es- 
cape it. 

Mr.  Britten.  The  gentleman  says  that  they  are 
living  in  a  comfortable  condition  in  Mexico,  and 
yet  we  appropriate  $300,000  to  improve  those  con- 
ditions by  taking  them  away  from  there. 

Mr.  Flood.  And  some  of  them  are  living  in  com- 
fortable conditions  here  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Britten.  Are  we  making  their  conditions  more 
comfortable  in  this  country  than  in  Mexico  .? 

Mr.  Flood.  I  do  not  know  about  that.  At  the 
present  time  those  in  Mexico  may  be  more  com- 


APPENDIX  119 

fortable  than  those  here,  but  at  the  time  the  appro- 
priation was  made  it  was  necessary  to  bring  them 
out  of  Mexico. 

Mr.  Britten.     Why  ? 

Mr.  Flood.  I  stated  why  to  the  gentleman,  and 
if  he  desires  to  object  to  the  resolution,  let  him  ob- 
ject to  it,  but  I  am  not  going  to  reply  to  any  more 
silly  questions. 

Mr.  Britten.  The  silliness  all  comes  from  that 
side  of  the  House. 

Mr.  Ferris.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  demand  the  regular 
order. 

The  Speaker.     The  regular  order  is  demanded. 

Mr.  Stafford.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to 
inquire  of  the  gentleman  about  the  character  of  the 
resolution.  The  resolution  we  passed  the  other 
day  providing  for  a  national  tag  day  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Americans  was  a  concurrent  resolution  ^ 

Mr.  Flood.     It  was. 

Mr.  Stafford.  Why  did  not  the  gentleman  in 
this  instance  adopt  the  policy  that  these  resolu- 
tions calling  upon  the  President  to  name  a  tag  day 
should  be  concurrent  rather  than  a  mere  House 
resolution,  as  this  is  .? 

Mr.  Flood.  Mr.  Speaker,  the  gentleman  will  re- 
call that  there  was  a  Senate  resolution,  not  a  con- 
current resolution,  in  reference  to  the  Syrians  and 
the  Jews  and  the  Poles  and  a  concurrent  resolution 
in  reference  to  the  Americans.  The  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Casey),  who  introduced  this 
resolution,    simply    introduced    the    House    resolu- 


120  APPENDIX 

tion,  and  the  President  having  issued  proclama- 
tions on  Senate  resolutions  therefore  the  committee 
thought  he  could  just  as  readily  issue  his  proclama- 
tion on  a  House  resolution,  and  reported  the  House 
resolution  instead  of  a  concurrent  resolution. 

Mr.  Stafford.  Does  not  the  gentleman  think 
that  in  these  matters  both  bodies  should  approve 
the  calling  upon  the  President  to  name  a  day  for  a 
tag  for  such  a  purpose  ? 

Mr.  Flood.  I  think  not.  A  concurrent  resolution 
may  give  more  dignity,  though  I  do  not  think  it 
makes  any  difference. 

The  Speaker.     Is  there  objection  ? 

Mr.  Buchanan  {pi  WVmo'is).  Mr.  Speaker,  reserv- 
ing the  right  to  object — 

Mr.  Ferris.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  demand  the  regular 
order. 

The  Speaker.     The  regular  order  is  demanded. 

Mr.  Buchanan  (of  Illinois).  I  do  not  desire  to 
object,  but  I  am  seeking  information,  the  same  as 
others. 

The  Speaker.  But  the  Chair  is  bound  to  pursue 
the  rules  of  the  House. 

Mr.  Buchanan  (of  Illinois).  I  would  like  to  ask 
who  controls  the  territory  in  which  these  people 
are  ? 

The  Speaker.  Is  there  objection.  (After  a 
pause.)  The  Chair  hears  none.  The  question  is  on 
agreeing  to  the  resolution. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to. 


APPENDIX  121 

PROCLAMATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENT 

Whereas,  I  have  received  from  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  a  resolution, 
passed  July  21,  1916,  reading  as  follows: 

Whereas,  In  the  various  countries  now  engaged 
in  war  there  are  four  millions  of  Lithuanians,  the 
greater  majority  of  whom  are  destitute  of  food, 
shelter,  clothing,  and 

Whereas,  Millions  of  them  have  been  driven 
from  their  homes  without  warning,  deprived  of  an 
opportunity  to  make  provisions  for  their  most  ele- 
mentary wants,  causing  starvation,  disease,  and 
untold  suffering;  and 

Whereas,  The  people  of  the  United  States  of 
America  have  learned  with  sorrow  of  this  plight  of 
millions  of  human  beings,  and  have  most  generously 
responded  to  the  cry  of  help  whenever  such  an  op- 
portunity has  reached  them; 

Therefore  he  it  resolved.  That  in  view  of  the  misery, 
wretchedness,  and  hardships  which  these  four  mil- 
lions of  Lithuanians  are  suffering  the  President  of 
the  United  States  be  respectfully  asked  to  designate 
a  day  on  which  the  citizens  of  this  country  may  give 
expression  to  their  sympathy  by  contributing  to  the 
funds  now  being  raised  for  the  relief  of  the  Lithu- 
anians in  the  war  zone. 

And  whereas,  I  feel  confident  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  will  be  moved  to  aid  a  people 
stricken  by  war  famine,  and  disease; 


122  APPENDIX 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of 
the  United  States,  in  compliance  with  the  request 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  thereof,  do  appoint 
and  proclaim  Wednesday,  November  i,  1916,  as  a 
day  upon  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  may 
make  contributions  as  they  feel  disposed  for  the  aid 
of  the  stricken  Lithuanian  people. 

Contributions  may  be  addressed  to  the  American 
Red  Cross,  Washington,  D.  C,  which  will  care  for 
proper  distribution. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  af- 
fixed. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  thirty-first 

day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 

nine  hundred  and  sixteen,  and  of  the  Independence 

of  the  United  States  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first. 

(Signed)  Woodrow  Wilson. 


APPENDIX  123 

APOSTOLIC  DELEGATION 

United  States  of  America 

18 II  Biltmore  Street, 
Washington,  D.  C,  October  8,  1917. 

No.  4348-e. 

This  No.  should  be  prefixed  to  the  answer. 

Rev.  Fathers  B.  Zindzius,  J.  Shestokas,  and  A. 

KODIS, 

Of  the  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian 
War  Sufferers. 

Reverend  dear  Fathers. 

I  sent  your  check  of  30,000  Lire  to  the  Holy  Father 
through  His  Eminence,  Cardinal  Gasparri,  Secre- 
tary of  State  to  His  Holiness,  and  asked  him  to 
take  charge  of  its  being  dispensed  for  the  relief  of 
the  Catholic  Lithuanians  who  inhabit  the  territory 
which  was  occupied  or  is  occupied  by  belligerent 
armies. 

In  answer  I  have  received  a  letter  from  His 
Eminence,  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of  State,  who  in- 
forms me  that  he  has  transmitted  the  sum  in  ques- 
tion to  the  Executive  of  the  Lithuanian  Committee 
of  Lausanne,  Switzerland,  to  be  distributed  in 
favor  of  the  Lithuanian  war  sufferers. 

His  Eminence  also  asks  me  to  tell  you  that  His 
Holiness  was  very  much  pleased  by  your  devotion, 
and  that  he  encourages  you  to  continue  the  good 


124  APPENDIX 

work  which  you  are  doing,  and  that  he  sends  you 
his  ApostoHc  blessing. 

With  the  kind  regards  and  best  wishes,  I  beg  to 
remain,  Reverend  Fathers, 

Sincerely  yours  in  Christ, 

(Signed)  John  Bonzano, 
Archbishop  of  Melitene,  Apostolic   Delegate. 

(Extract  from  the  article  in  Free  Lithuania,  describing  the  activi- 
ties of  American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War  Sufferers.) 

AMERICAN   LITHUANIANS'    PETITION   TO 
HIS  HOLINESS  POPE  BENEDICT  XV 

We,  the  Roman  Catholic  Lithuanians,  kneeling 
at  the  throne  of  His  Holiness,  wish  to  express  our 
filial  devotion  to  the  Apostolic  See  and  our  gratitude 
for  all  the  favors  that  His  Holiness  has  shown  to- 
ward the  Lithuanian  nation. 

Your  HoHness !  It  is  the  great  misery  of  our  be- 
loved brothers  in  Lithuania  that  has  forced  us  to 
approach  your  tender  heart.  Since  the  outbreak 
of  the  European  conflict  our  country  has  been  the 
arena  of  many  struggles  between  the  Russian  and 
German  armies,  and  has  become  almost  entirely 
devastated.  Our  fathers  and  brothers  are  forcibly 
enrolled  in  the  two  opposing  belligerent  armies, 
while  destitute  aged  people,  women,  and  children 
have  no  shelter  and  are  enduring  untold  sufferings 
of  hunger  and  cold,  many  of  them  prematurely  hav- 
ing already  gone  to  their  graves.     It  is  especially 


APPENDIX  125 

hard  for  the  little  ones  who,  on  account  of  lack  of 
the  proper  food,  cannot  withstand  the  hardships  of 
the  war. 

Although  the  sufferings  of  Lithuania  are  much 
greater  than  those  of  Belgium  and  Poland  because 
the  two  great  armies  several  times  have  crossed 
and  recrossed  the  Lithuanian  plains,  destroying  and 
confiscating  everything  on  their  way,  nevertheless 
the  charitable  hand  of  the  world,  while  helping 
others,  as  Belgium,  Poland,  etc.,  has  not  been  ex- 
tended to  Lithuania.  Many  individuals  of  different 
nationalities  have  contributed  for  the  suffering 
Lithuanians,  but  as  those  donations  were  trans- 
mitted through  the  Polish  Committee  in  Vilna,  they 
did  not  reach  the  Lithuanian  sufferers,  the  money 
being  used  for  the  establishment  of  Polish  schools  in 
Lithuania  for  the  purpose  of  Polonizing  our  nation. 

It  is  a  sad  fact  that  Lithuania  has  been  lately  so 
little  known  to  the  world  that  even  the  name  of 
Lithuania  has  been  erased  from  the  map  of  Europe, 
and  not  having  representatives  either  at  the  courts 
of  the  Great  Powers  or  with  the  Apostolic  See  there 
has  been  no  way  by  which  Lithuanian  rights  could 
be  defended,  nor  the  misfortunes  of  that  country 
told  to  the  world. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  the  war  we  have  or- 
ganized relief  committees  among  our  own  people, 
but  on  account  of  the  great  army  of  destitutes  we 
are  lacking  power  and  means  to  bring  the  neces- 
sary relief  to  them. 


126  APPENDIX 

Therefore,  forced  by  the  necessity  and  prompted 
by  your  generous  heart  toward  suffering  humanity, 
we  most  humbly  ask  Your  HoHness  to  set  apart  a 
day  in  which  the  CathoHc  people,  by  generous  do- 
nations in  the  churches,  could  show  their  charity 
to  the  starving  widows  and  orphans  of  Lithuania. 

We  pray  you.  Holy  Father,  to  bless  us  and  our 
country  and  further  extend  your  paternal  care. 

This  petition  was  obtained  at  and  indorsed  by 
the  convention  of  representatives  from  the  Lithu- 
anian National  Council  of  America,  Lithuanian 
National  Fund  for  the  War  Sufferers,  Lithuanian 
Roman  Catholic  Federation  of  America,  Lithuanian 
Roman  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Alliance,  Lithu- 
anian Roman  Catholic  Federation  of  Labor,  Lithu- 
anian Roman  Catholic  Women's  Alliance  of  Amer- 
ica, and  Knights  of  Lithuania,  held  on  January 
lo-ii,  1917,  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

It  was  voted  that  a  copy  of  this  petition,  through 
the  delegates,  Rev.  J.  J.  Jakaitis  and  Doctor  J.  J. 
Bielskis,  be  presented  to  the  Apostolic  Delegate, 
His  Excellency  Mgr.  John  Bonzano,  of  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  for  transmission  to  His  Holiness  Pope 
Benedict  XV. 

Rev.  John  J.  Jakaitis, 
President  of  the  Lithuanian   National 
Fund  for  the  War  Sufferers. 
Dr.  Julius  J.  Bielskis, 
President   of  the   Lithuaiiian    National 
Council  of  America. 


APPENDIX  127 


AMERICAN  LITHUANIANS'  DECLARATION 

(handed  to  the  president  of  the  united  states; 
the  apostolic  delegate  and  the  ambassadors 
of  the  european  countries  at  washington, 
d.  c,  in  the  month  of  january,  i917.) 

The  Lithuanian  nation,  a  separate  branch  of  the 
Indo-European  race,  has  been  dwelHng  since  pre- 
historic times  on  the  southwest  coast  of  the  Baltic 
Sea  in  the  basin  of  Niemen. 

Of  all  nations  living  on  the  Baltic  coast,  Lithu- 
ania alone  was  a  powerful  state  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  In  the  fourteenth  century  the  boundaries 
of  the  Lithuanian  state  reached  from  the  Baltic 
Sea  to  the  Black  Sea.  In  times  of  her  political 
strength  Lithuania  stopped  the  advance  of  the  Teu- 
tons toward  the  east  (1410),  and  by  thus  checking 
the  advance  of  the  Teutons,  assisted  in  maintain- 
ing the  equiHbrium  of  Europe.  From  the  other 
side  Lithuania,  with  her  own  breast,  protected 
Europe's  Christian  civilization  from  the  onflow  of 
the  Tartar  hordes. 

Lithuania  in  such  times  did  not  know  slavery. 
For  ages  she  formed  her  own  political  traditions  and 
her  own  independent  customs.  Although  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  on  account  of  the  wars  with  the 
Muscovites,  Lithuanian  noblemen  were  forced  to 
form  a  political  union  with  the  Poles  (similar  to 
that  now  existing  between  Austria  and  Hungary), 


128  APPENDIX 

nevertheless,  up  to  the  partition  of  Poland  and 
Lithuania  (latter  part  of  eighteenth  century)  not 
only  did  Lithuania  maintain  her  national  individ- 
ualism, but  she  succeeded  also  in  maintaining  her 
own  political  self-government. 

Later,  on,  in  times  of  great  pressure  from  the  side 
of  Russia,  although  all  Lithuanian  presses  were 
closed,  and  no  papers  or  books  were  printed  in  the 
country  from  1864  to  1904,  the  Lithuanian  desire 
and  hope  for  independence  was  not  subdued.  The 
vision  of  independence  was  kept  alive  in  the  peas- 
ant songs  and  in  the  literature  printed  outside  the 
Russian  boundaries. 

In  the  year  1905  the  Lithuanian  nation  played  a 
great  part  in  the  movement  for  the  emancipation 
of  different  nationalities  composing  the  Russian 
Empire.  The  same  year  (November  21  and  22) 
about  two  thousand  Lithuanian  delegates  from  all 
parts  of  Lithuania  gathered  in  the  city  of  Vilna, 
the  old  capitol  of  Lithuania.  All  Lithuanian  po- 
litical parties  were  represented  and  the  delegates 
unanimously  demanded  political  freedom  for  Lithu- 
ania. 

Later,  severe  suppression  on  the  part  of  Russia 
prevented  the  attainment  of  independence.  Never- 
theless, the  Lithuanians  gained  the  right  in  some 
degree  to  cultivate  the  field  of  literature  and  edu- 
cation, and  during  ten  years  of  peaceful  cultural 
work  the  people  have  shown  unusual  skill  and  adapt- 
ness  in  writing  and  in  organizing  schools  and  edu- 


APPENDIX  129 

catlonal  societies.  Periodicals  and  literature  in 
general  have  circulated  throughout  the  country, 
educational  and  economic  institutions  have  sprung 
up,  and  the  people  have  built  up  their  own  com- 
merce and  industry. 

The  great  European  war  has  found  Lithuania 
thus  building  itself  up,  while  at  the  same  time 
politically  divided  between  the  two  powerful  gov- 
ernments of  Russia  and  Germany.  Lithuanians 
have  been  forced  in  retreating  to  devastate  their 
own  native  country,  and  in  advancing  have  been 
compelled  to  waste  the  country  of  their  brothers 
who  are  forced  to  serve  in  the  armies  of  one  or  the 
other  of  the  belligerents. 

At  this  critical  moment,  when  the  world  is  called 
upon  to  solve  a  very  important  problem,  namely, 
that  of  establishing  a  humane,  and  assuring  a  last- 
ing peace.  We,  the  Empowered  Representa- 
tives OF  THE  Lithuanian  Nation,  assume  the 
privilege  and  duty  of  declaring  that  it  is  our  sin- 
cere belief  that  lasting  peace  can  be  established  only 
if  every  living  nation  be  given  the  right  to  deter- 
mine her  own  destiny. 

IN  THE  NAME  OF  OUR  NATION  WE  DECLARE 
THAT; 

Whereas,  Lithuanians,  since  prehistoric  times  have 
dwelt  in  the  same  place  without  seeking  to  add  to  their 
territory  by  any  form  of  conquest,  and 

Whereas,  Lithuania  has  shown  great  power  of  organ- 
ization and  ability  to  rule  herself  upon  her  own  soil,  and 


130  APPENDIX 

Whereas,  political  freedom  of  Lithuania  has  become 
an  inalienable  attribute  of  the  Lithuanian  life  and  spirit, 
and 

Whereas,  Lithuania  has  had  a  glorious  political  part 
and  has  made  signal  sacrifices  on  behalf  of  humanity,  and 

Whereas,  Lithuania,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  was 
wholly  united  under  one  government,  and  for  centuries 
maintained  its  union  and  independence,  and 

Whereas,  united  and  politically  independent  Lithu- 
ania could  accomplish  her  cultural  and  national  ideals, 
and  be  of  real  benefit  to  the  whole  of  humanity,  and 

Whereas,  divided  and  repressed  Lithuania  would  be 
a  constant  menace  ever  threatening  European  peace. 

Therefore,  Be  It  Resolved:  That  we,  the  empow- 
ered representatives  of  the  Lithuanian  nation,  demand 
of  the  representatives  of  the  governments  that  will,  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  negotiate  peace: 

(i)  That  ethnographical  Lithuania  be  united  in  one 
political  body,  and 

(2)  That  united  Lithuania  be  given  absolute  political 
independence,  and 

Be  It  Further  Resolved:  That  the  Reverend  John 
Zilius  and  Doctor  Julius  J.  Bielskis  be,  and  they  hereby 
are,  empowered  and  instructed  to  present  a  copy  of  this 
declaration  to  the  ambassadors  of  all  European  countries, 
and  to  publish  this  declaration  in  such  manner  as  they 
deem  to  be  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Lithuanian  people. 

Lithuanian  National  Council  of  America, 
By  Its  Component  Representatives: 

Lithuanian  Roman  Catholic  Alliance  of  America, 

By 
National  Fund, 

By 


APPENDIX  131 

Lithuanian  Roman  Catholic  Federation  of  America, 

By 
Lithuanian  Total  Abstinence  Alliance, 

By 
Lithuanian  Federation  of  Labor, 

By 
Lithuanian  Roman  Catholic  Women's  Alliance  of 
America, 
By 
Knights  of  Lithuania. 

President,  Dr.  Julius  J.  Bielskis, 

53  Capital  Ave.,  Hartford,  Conn. 
Secretary,  Dr.  Fr.  Augustaitis, 
614  W.  Mahanoy  Ave.,  Mahanoy  City,  Pa. 

CONVENTION  OF  THE   LITHUANIANS  OF 
AMERICA 

March  13-14,  1918,  a  convention  of  the  Lithu- 
anians residing  in  the  United  States  of  America 
was  held  at  the  Madison  Square  Garden  Theatre, 
New  York  City.  The  1,500  delegates,  representing 
1,000  organizations  and  colonies,  assembled  for  the 
purpose  of  declaring  their  determined  will  regard- 
ing the  future  of  their  mother  country,  Lithuania. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted: 

Whereas,  The  Lithuanian  Nation  forms  an  ethno- 
graphic, cultural,  economic,  and  political  inseparable 
body;  and 

Whereas,  The  historic  past  of  Lithuania  and  the  pres- 


132  APPENDIX 

ent  democratic  development  of  the  world  reaffirms  to 
the  Lithuanian  Nation  the  undeniable  right  to  re-estab- 
lish its  own  sovereign  State;  and 

Whereas,  In  the  question  of  its  ultimate  political  des- 
tiny the  Lithuanian  Nation  maintains  the  right  to  fol- 
low its  own  national  ideals;  and 

Whereas,  Nations  can  successfully  pursue  their  cul- 
tural courses  and  develop  their  economic  resources  only 
when  in  possession  of  their  full  political  freedom;  and 

Whereas,  Every  nation  has  an  inherent  right  to  decide 
its  own  political  destiny;  and 

Whereas,  The  present  war  conditions  have  rendered 
the  recognition  of  Lithuanian  political  freedom  of  inter- 
national importance  and  therefore  it  becomes  a  subject 
to  be  deliberated  upon  at  the  international  peace  con- 
gress; and 

Whereas,  Only  the  international  congress  can  give  a 
true  guarantee  of  the  political  sovereignty  of  Lithuania 
and  not  any  warring  nation  striving  now  to  enslave  Lithu- 
ania; and 

Whereas,  Our  highly  esteemed  President,  Woodrow 
Wilson,  adheres  to  the  principle  declared  by  him  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  January  22,  1917,  that 

"No  peace  can  last,  or  ought  to  last,  which  does  not 
recognize  and  accept  the  principle  that  governments  de- 
rive all  their  just  powers  from  consent  of  the  governed, 
and  that  no  right  anywhere  exists  to  hand  people  about 
from  sovereignty  to  sovereignty  a's  if  they  were  property." 

Therefore,  the  Convention  of  the  Lithuanians  of 
America,  after  grave  consideration  of  the  present  political 
situation  of  Lithuania,  resolved, 

L — To  respectfully  request  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  the  allied  as  well  as  the  neutral  governments 
of  the  world,  to  recognize  the  following  demands: 

I.  That  for  the  full  and  unhindered  development  of 
Lithuania  it  is  necessary  that  Lithuania  become  a  sover- 


APPENDIX  133 

eign  and  independent  democratic  state  within  its  own 
ethnographic  boundaries,  with  the  necessary  economic 
corrections. 

2.  That  the  independence  of  Lithuania  be  assured  by 
the  international  peace  congress,  and  that  delegates  of 
Lithuania  be  given  right  to  take  part  with  full  deliberative 
powers. 

IL — That  these  resolutions  be  respectfully  presented 
to  our  highly  esteemed  President,  Woodrow  Wilson,  who 
has  unceasingly  championed  protection  of  the  rights  of 
small  and  subject  nationalities,  and  to  all  allied  and  neu- 
tral governments. 

Be  It  Further  Resolved,  That  the  President,  Wood- 
row  Wilson,  and  the  nations  of  the  world,  be  respect- 
fully requested  that  the  right  to  a  separate  and  delibera- 
tive representation  at  the  impending  international  peace 
conference  be  given  to  the  representatives  of  the  people  of 
Lithuania. 


LITHUANIANS  PLACE  THEIR  HOPES  OF 
INDEPENDENCE  ON  PRESIDENT  WILSON 
AND  POPE  BENEDICT  XV 

The  mass-meeting  of  Lithuanian  residents  of 
counties  of  Queens  and  Nassau,  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  was  held  on  September  23,  191 7,  at  the 
Parochial  Hall  of  Transfiguration  Church,  Hull 
Avenue  and  Remsen  Place,  Maspeth,  New  York 
City. 

The  addresses  were  made  by  Rev.  A.  M.  Milukas, 
rector  of  Transfiguration  Church,  Rev.  Dr.  A. 
Maliauskis,   of  Chicago,   and   Mn   A.   Novicki,   of 


134  APPENDIX 

Maspeth.     The   following   resolutions  were   unani- 
mously adopted: 

Whereas,  The  aggressions  and  outrages  of  autocracy 
against  the  liberty  of  the  people  forced  the  United  States 
to  take  arms  to  defend  the  peoples'  rights  and  liberty  on 
land  and  sea. 

Whereas,  The  United  States  being  morally,  physic- 
ally, and  materially  one  of  the  most  powerful  countries 
can  accomplish  great  things  in  this  direction. 

Whereas,  The  United  States  entered  the  war  with  all 
her  powers  will  bring  the  victory  for  democracy. 

Whereas,  During  this  war  the  small  nations  suffered 
the  most  and  some  of  them  are  entirely  devastated. 

Whereas,  Lithuania  on  eastern  battle-front  for  three 
years  serving  as  a  battle-field  and  contributing  half  a 
million  of  her  sons  for  the  Allied  armies,  thereby  taking 
an  active  part  in  the  war  for  liberty  and  justice. 

Whereas,  The  most  appreciated  words  of  President 
Wilson  in  the  recent  note  to  Russia  and  also  the  proclaimed 
principle  of  nationalities  by  the  Allies  assure  the  restora- 
tion of  liberty  for  the  small  nations. 

Whereas,  We  are  especially  grateful  to  President  Wil- 
son as  well  as  His  Holiness  Pope  Benedict  XV  for  their 
efforts  to  restore  the  freedom  of  peoples  living  in  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  former  Poland,  that  is  the  historical  dual 
Polish-Lithuanian  state,  but  the  experience  of  centuries 
has  amply  proved  that  the  union  of  peoples  of  different 
nationality  and  race,  as  are  Lithuanians  and  Poles,  under 
their  dual  and  independent  governments,  could  produce 
only  a  continuous  strife,  disorder,  and  anarchy,  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  the  final  fall  of  both  those  united  nations. 

Therefore  be  it  resolved.  That  we,  the  Lithuanians  of 


APPENDIX  135 

the  State  of  New  York  having  immigrated  from  our  na- 
tive land,  Lithuania,  to  this  land  of  liberty,  and  ever 
pledging  our  loyalty  to  this  our  adopted  country,  sin- 
cerely believing  and  living  up  to  the  principles  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  being  nevertheless  in  sympathy 
with  our  brothers  in  Lithuania. 

(i)  We  appeal  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
through  the  representatives  of  our  State,  that  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  discussing  peace  terms  should  include 
the  demand  for  the  restoration  of  Lithuania  not  in  union 
with  Poland,  but  as  a  separate  state. 

(2)  That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  support 
the  rights  of  all  nations  participating  or  affected  in  this 
war,  be  they  large  or  small.  That  these  rights  can  only 
be  satisfactorily  adjusted  after  considering  the  just 
claims  of  the  representatives  of  respective  nations. 

(3)  We  earnestly  pray  and  implore  the  representatives 
of  our  State  in  both  Houses  of  the  United  States  Con- 
gress to  bring  to  pass  the  above  measure. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  That  Dr.  J.  J.  Bielskis,  be,  and  he 
hereby  is,  empowered  and  instructed  to  present  a  copy 
of  this  resolution  to  the  representatives  of  the  State  of 
New  York  in  both  Houses  of  the  United  States  Congress 
at  Washington,  D.  C. 

A.  M.  MiLUKAS,  President. 
rcg^^  I  A.  NoviCKi,  Secretary. 

Sworn  and  subscribed  before  me  this  4th  day  of 
October,  19 17. 

Kazimier  Brusak,  Notary  Public. 

Notary  Public,  Kings  Co.;  Kings  Co.  Reg. 

No.  9032;  Kings  Co.  Clerk's  No.  203. 


136  APPENDIX 

House  of  Representatives,  U.  S. 
committee  on  military  affairs 
Washington,  D.  C,  October  lo,  1917. 
Rev.  a.  M.  Milukas. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  your  copy  of  resolutions  adopted 
by  Lithuanians  and  I  am  heartily  in  sympathy  with 
the  ideas  they  convey.  Am  sorry  Congress  is  not 
in  session  or  I  would  have  them  put  in  the  Con- 
gressional Record. 

If  there  is  any  way  in  which  I  can  be  of  service 
to  you,  I  shall  be  glad. 

Sincerely, 

Geo.  R.  Lunn. 

July  4th,  1918. 
His  Excellency  President  Woodrow  Wilson, 
White  House,  Washington,  D.  C. 

As  it  behooves  good  American  Roman  Catholics 
of  Lithuanian  descent  we  began  this  day  with  pray- 
ers in  our  church  for  the  success  of  our  armies  on 
the  field  of  battle,  and  for  the  welfare  of  our  dear 
boys  in  our  country's  service.  Now  we  are  to  start 
on  New  York's  loyalty  parade,  proudly  carrying  in 
front  of  us  Old  Glory,  and  our  church  service  flags 
with  106  stars  out  of  500  male  membership.  We 
turn  to  greet  you  as  our  Chief  Commander,  pledging 
our  lives  and  properties  on  the  altar  of  our  country. 

We  hope  and  pray  that  in  the  near  future  you, 
Mr.  President,  as  the  leader  of  victorious  allies  will 


APPENDIX  137 

be  able  to  vindicate  the  violated  democracy,  to  re- 
store with  our  Holy  Father  the  Pope,  the  right  and 
justice,  and  that  among  other  things  you  will  help 
to  re-establish  on  the  shore  of  the  Baltic  Sea  a  free 
and  independent  Lithuanian  state. 

A.  M.  MiLUKAS,  Rector, 

Alex  Grabauskas  ,  ^ 

/  rustees, 


Simon  Cerebejus 

Of  Transfiguration  Church,  Mas- 
pet  h,  L.  I.,  New  York  City. 

, ,     y^         o  Washington,  July  6,  19 18. 

My  Dear  Sir:  ^  j    j    >    y 

Allow  me  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
telegram  of  July  4th  and  to  say  that  I  shall  have 
pleasure  in  bringmg  it  to  the  attention  of  the 
President. 

In  his  behalf  let  me  thank  you  and  all  those  con- 
cerned for  your  friendly  and  patriotic  assurances. 
Sincerely  yours, 

J.  P.  Tumulty, 
Secretary  to  the  President. 
Rev.  A.  M.  Milukas, 

Maspeth,  Long  Island,  N.  Y. 


138  APPENDIX 

THE   RESOLUTION  OF  THE 
LITHUANIAN  NATIONAL  COUNCIL 

We,  the  Lithuanian  National  Council,  represent- 
ing the  central  organizations,  comprising  about 
750,000  Lithuanians  of  America,  in  a  joint  session 
held  November  27th,  1918,  in  the  Hotel  McAlpin 
in  the  City  of  New  York,  have  unanimously  adopted 
the  following  resolution: 

1.  Whereas,  Provisional  Government  of  Lithu- 
ania has  been  duly  elected  by  the  State  Council  of 
Lithuania,  consisting  of  Professor  Augustinas  Vol- 
demaras  as  Premier  and  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs; 
Martinas  Ychas,  ex-member  of  Russian  Duma  from 
Lithuania,  as  Minister  of  Treasury;  Doctor  Alexas 
Alekna  as  Minister  of  the  Interior;  Major-General 
Zukauskis  as  Minister  of  War;  Doctor  Jokantas  as 
Minister  of  Education;  Engineer  Stasys  Liands- 
bergis  as  Minister  of  Communication;  Count  Alex- 
ander Tyskevicius  as  Minister  of  Agriculture;  Judge 
Krisciukaitis  as  Minister  of  Justice;  Attorney  Petras 
Leonas,  ex-member  of  Russian  Duma  from  Lithu- 
ania, as  State  Comptroller. 

2.  Whereas,  The  newly  elected  Government  of 
Lithuania  possesses  confidence  of  the  majority  of 
the  people  and  is  able  to  maintain  justice,  to  pre- 
serve peace  and  order  in  the  country  and  to  per- 
form necessary  reconstruction  work  until  the  Con- 
stitutional Assembly  shall  be  convened  at  Vilnius. 

3.  Whereas,     In    Lithuania    there    has    been 


APPENDIX  139 

formed  an  army  consisting  of  60,000  men  or  more  to 
enforce  peace  and  order  and  to  support  Provisional 
Government. 

Therefore  Be  It  Resolved,  i.  That  we,  represen- 
tatives of  the  Lithuania  National  Council,  recog- 
nize the  authority  of  the  Provisional  Government 
and  hereby  pledge  our  fervent  support  to  it. 

2.  That  we  respectfully  request  President  Wood- 
row  Wilson,  the  Government  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  recognize  the  independence  and 
sovereignty  of  the  Lithuanian  nation  and  her  Pro- 
visional Government  as  the  legal  and  official  rep- 
resentative body  of  Lithuania. 

3.  That  representatives  of  the  Government  of 
Lithuania  shall  be  admitted  to  deliberations,  de- 
cisions and  actions  at  the  Peace  Conference. 

4.  That  we  fully  believe  in  principles  of  democ- 
racy as  expressed  by  President  Woodrow  Wilson 
and  are  staunch  supporters  of  creating  a  League  of 
Nations  and  that  the  Lithuanian  nation  shall  be 
admitted  to  the  membership. 

5.  It  is  further  Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these 
resolutions  be  sent  to  President  Woodrow  Wilson, 
Secretary  of  State  Robert  Lansing,  and  Chairmen 
of  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee  of  the  Senate. 

J.  S.  LoPATTO,  Chairman. 
V.  F.  Jankauskas,  Secretary. 


140  APPENDIX 

LITHUANIANS  IN  AMERICA  PROVE  THEIR 

PATRIOTISM  TO  THEIR  ADOPTED 

COUNTRY 

Treasury  Department 

second  federal  reserve  district 

Brooklyn  Liberty  Loan  Committee 

Headquarters    District   93,    102    Montague   Street, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

October  23,  1918. 

St.  George's  Church, 

207  York  Street,  Brooklyn. 
Rev.  a.  p.  Kodis: 

Beg  to  advise  you  that  total  subscriptions  re- 
ceived from  your  church  amount  to  ^10,950  for  the 
Fourth  Liberty  Loan. 

Thanking  you  for  your  co-operation,  we  are 
Yours  for  the  Fourth  Liberty  Loan, 
J.  M.  Heatherton, 

Chairman  Precinct  93. 

P.  S. — Your  additional  subscriptions  received 
to-day  make  a  total  amount  of  ^41,950. 

Similar  letters  were  received  by  nearly  a  hundred 
of  the  Lithuanian  Roman  Catholic  rectors  in  this 
country.  The  official  figures  of  the  Liberty  Loan 
Committee  show  that  Lithuanians  are  ahead  of 
many  more  numerous  nationalities  of  the  U.  S.  A. 
in  their  patriotic  works. 


APPENDIX  141 

LITHUANIANS   AT   THE    INTERNATIONAL 
CONFERENCE 

June  27-29,  1916,  at  the  International  Conference, 
Lausanne,  Switzerland,  where  twenty-eight  nations 
were  represented,  five  accredited  Lithuanian  dele- 
gates were  present — three  from  Lithuania  and  two 
from  the  United  States  of  America.  During  a  ses- 
sion of  the  conference  a  long  Lithuanian  declaration 
was  read,  which,  after  reciting  the  historical  events 
in  the  Lithuanian  state,  presented  the  following 
conclusion: 

"Relying  on  these  bases,  the  Lithuanian  nation  with  its 
own  traditions,  culture,  national  ideals  and  its  individu- 
ality, believe  that  the  only  way  a  nation  can  survive  is 
to  acquire  its  own  rights  in  all  domains  of  life,  and  that 
the  nation  should  direct  its  own  destiny.  The  young 
Lithuania  presenting  the  facts  that  for  centuries  Lithu- 
ania was  an  independent  state,  and  now  asking  for  her 
own  rights,  it  is  not  her  object  to  impose  on  the  rights  of 
those  nations  which  were  included  and  formed  a  part  of 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Lithuania. 

"The  Lithuanian  nation,  which  for  centuries  experi- 
enced so  much  disappointment,  sees  the  guarantee  of  her 
future  and  the  sufficient  guarantee  of  her  freedom  only 
in  the  complete  independence  of  Lithuania." 

Over  200,000  Lithuanian  refugees  in  Russia  who 
were  forced  to  abandon  their  homes  and  flee  to 
unknown  countries,  to  be  scattered  in  all  parts  of 
Russia,  called  a  conference  at  Petrograd,  May  27, 


142  APPENDIX 

191 7,  to  consider,  through  their  delegates,  the  situ- 
ation of  their  mother  country,  Lithuania. 

The  following  is  a  conclusion  of  the  adopted 
resolutions: 

Be  It  Resolved:  i.  That  the  ethnographic  Lithuania 
be  established  into  an  independent  state,  continually 
neutral. 

2.  The  independence  and  neutrality  of  Lithuania  must 
be  guaranteed  at  the  Peace  Congress. 

3.  Lithuanian  representatives  must  be  admitted  to  the 
Peace  Congress. 


LITHUANIA  SEPARATED  FROM  RUSSIA 

In  1915  Germany  took  the  v^^hole  of  Lithuania 
from  Russia,  established  custom-houses  and  fixed 
the  boundaries  between  Lithuania,  Germany,  and 
Poland.  The  people  of  this  country  are  being  called 
citizens  of  Lithuania. 

The  only  tie  that  bound  Lithuania  to  Russia  was 
the  Czar,  as  he  had  the  title  of  Grand  Duke  of 
Lithuania,  but  now  that  he  is  deposed,  ipso  facto, 
Lithuania  becomes  separated  from  Russia.  Russia 
is  now  a  republic,  and  the  hands  of  Lithuania  are 
again  freed. 

In  the  latter  part  of  191 7  Germany  transferred 
the  reins  of  government  in  Lithuania  from  the  Ger- 
man military  to  the  Lithuanian  civil  government. 

The  Lithuanian  Diet  was  called  September  18-22, 
1917,  at  the  city  of  Vilna;  215  delegates,  represent- 


APPENDIX  143 

ing  all  parts  of  the  country  and  all  political  parties 
in  Lithuania,  assembled  to  confer  concerning  the 
destiny  of  Lithuania.  The  Valstijos  Taryba  (State 
Council)  composed  of  20  persons,  representing  all 
political  parties,  was  organized. 


A  NATION  MARTYR 

(Rev.  Dr.  A.  Maliauskis,  in  Philadelphia  Press,  1916.) 

The  fearful  European  War  has  throttled  with  its 
bloody  hand  the  innocent,  unoffending,  peacefully 
abiding,  and  patiently  bearing  Lithuanian  people 
under  the  rule  of  both  Germany  and  Russia. 

The  idol  of  war,  the  inhuman  desires  of  the  op- 
pressors, are  threatening  the  Lithuanian  nation 
with  final  destruction. 

Because  many  are  not  familiar  with  the  misfor- 
tunes of  Lithuania  we  will  briefly  attempt  to  in- 
form them. 

Lithuanians  are  neither  Slavs  nor  Germans,  but  a 
separate  branch  of  an  Indo-European  people.  The 
Lithuanian  language  is  far  more  ancient  than  the 
Slavonian  and  has  a  pedigree  of  nobility  strikingly 
resembling  the  archaic  Sanscrit. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  when  Lithuania  was 
governed  by  her  own  rulers,  Mindaugas,  Gediminas, 
Algirdas,  Kestutis,  Vitautas,  Jagela,  she  was  one 
of  the  most  powerful  nations  of  Europe. 

Her  boundaries  extended  from  the  Baltic  to  the 


144  APPENDIX 

Black  Sea.  The  Poles,  her  neighbors,  wishing  to 
strengthen  their  domain,  invited  Jagela,  the  Lithu- 
anian ruler,  to  the  throne  of  Poland  (1385).  From 
that  time  Lithuania  and  Poland  had  a  common 
King. 

In  1569  a  confederation  was  formed  between 
Poland  and  Lithuania.  Poles,  however,  proved  to 
be  not  pleasant  companions.  They  took  away  from 
Lithuania  the  rich  provinces  of  Podolia,  Volynia, 
and  Kiev.  That  stirred  up  an  internal  discord 
which  naturally  weakened  the  mutual  power  of  both 
nations.  Finally  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  that  internal  strife,  toward  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century  divided  among 
themselves  the  both  nations.  The  large  portion  of 
Lithuania  was  seized  by  Russia,  the  smaller  by 
Prussia. 

From  that  time  started  a  long  and  incessant  op- 
pression, Germany  striving  to  Germanize  Lithu- 
anians and  Russia  to  Russianize  them. 

In  Russia  there  prevails  a  national  orthodox  re- 
ligion. The  fact  of  being  orthodox  implies  being  a 
Russian.  Russia  overran  Lithuania  with  its  or- 
thodox priests  with  the  purpose  of  proselytizing 
Lithuania  to  the  national  orthodox  religion,  and 
thereby  striving  to  induce  them  to  be  Russianized. 

But  the  rude  orthodox  priests  of  Russia  by  their 
conduct  incurred  rather  the  hatred  of  the  people 
than  the  conversion  which  they  sought. 

The   Russian   Government,   however,   attempted 


APPENDIX  145 

even  stronger  means  of  Russianizing  Lithuanians.  In 
1864  she  strictly  prohibited  the  study  of  the  Lith- 
uanian language  and  abolished  the  Lithuanian  press. 

But  the  people,  however,  were  anxious  for  edu- 
cation. They  could  not  forget  their  lost  liberty. 
Secretly  and  by  stealth  they  brought  Lithuanian 
literature  from  Prussian  Lithuania  and  disseminated 
it  among  the  people.  Secretly  and  by  night,  hid- 
den from  Russian  police  and  gendarmes,  they  read 
these  books  and  papers  and  taught  their  children 
to  read. 

Woe  befell  them  whom  the  Russian  Government 
found  teaching  to  their  children  their  own  language 
or  spreading  the  Lithuanian  literature.  Upon  such 
they  imposed  enormous  fines,  imprisoned  them,  or 
even  sent  them  to  Siberia,  where  they  were  com- 
pelled to  meet  death  by  murderous  hand  or  ferocious 
beasts. 

Thus  suffered  Lithuania  for  forty  years.  Finally 
the  Russian  Government  was  convinced  that  not- 
withstanding its  ferocious  persecutions  and  pro- 
hibition of  literature  and  education  almost  all  the 
Lithuanians  were  able  to  read  and  write  in  their 
own  tongue. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  revolution  the  Russian 
Government,  in  order  to  gain  the  Lithuanian  good- 
will and  at  the  same  time  in  order  to  prevent  them 
joining  the  revolution,  on  the  loth  of  April,  1904, 
allowed  the  restoration  of  the  Lithuanian  press. 

Lithuania  suffered  not  less  even  in  the  economic 


146  APPENDIX 

line.  Russia,  forming  commercial  treaties  with 
Germany,  did  not  consider  Lithuania.  Lithuania 
is  almost  exclusively  an  agricultural  country.  The 
sources  of  its  wealth  are  almost  entirely  in  agri- 
culture. But,  thanks  to  commercial  treaties,  Lithu- 
ania could  not  sell  its  produce  in  Germany  nor  pro- 
cure from  Germany  necessary  machinery  or  other 
implements  by  reason  of  the  exorbitant  tariff,  so 
that  Lithuanians  were  unable  to  sell  their  products 
for  obtainable  profit  and  were  obliged  to  pay  ex- 
orbitant prices  for  inferior  machinery  and  other 
implements  manufactured  by  Russia. 

The  union  of  endeavor  for  economic  improvement 
was  greatly  discouraged  and  hindered  by  the  Rus- 
sian Government,  and  although  through  great 
pressure  organization  could  be  perfected,  still  they 
were  not  sure  of  permanent  existence.  Any  higher 
official  or  governor  has  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  power  in  Lithuania.  This  was  abolished  in 
England  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Those  officials 
can  dissolve  any  organization  according  to  their 
whim,  though  without  any  reason. 

All  officials  throughout,  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest,  were  Russians  sent  from  Russia,  knowing 
neither  the  customs  of  the  people  nor  the  demands 
of  the  country,  though  the  most  learned  Lithuanian 
could  not  be  an  official  in  his  own  country. 

The  conditions  have  not  improved  even  during 
the  war.  The  leading  paper  of  Russia,  Novoje 
Vremia,   time   and    again   deplores   that   Russia   is 


APPENDIX  147 

weak  and  not  able  to  withstand  the  German  in- 
vasion because  being  composed  of  many  national- 
ities, whilst  Germany  is  one. 

And,  above  all,  that  paper  maintains  that  Russia 
must  exert  her  utmost  power  to  abolish  after  the 
war  a  plurality  of  nations  and  have  all  nations  com- 
bined in  one. 

Of  the  same  opinion  is  the  strongest  nationalist 
party.  Hence  while  Lithuania's  children  are  shed- 
ding their  blood  in  defense  of  the  Russian  Power, 
Russia  is  planning  a  final  destruction  for  the  Lithu- 
anians. 

Germany  has  the  same  designs  over  Lithuania. 
Professor  Dr.  T.  Kochler,  in  the  Vossische  Zeitung, 
No.  145,  of  1916,  philosophically  explains  how  to 
denationalize  Lithuania.  The  renowned  German 
writer,  Dr.  P.  Rohrbach,  in  his  work  Russland  und 
Wir  (Russia  and  We),  (Stuttgart,  191 5),  writes  that 
the  aim  of  Germany  is  to  Germanize  Lithuania.  To 
accomplish  this  the  government  is  to  buy  the 
Lithuanian  lands  and  to  have  them  colonized  by 
Germans.  When  there  will  be  in  Lithuania  more 
Germans  than  Lithuanians  then  the  denationaliza- 
tion will  be  easily  accomplished.  Of  the  same 
opinion  is  the  German  statesman,  Broderic  Kur- 
mahlen,  in  his  work.  New  Eastern  Country,  pub- 
lished in  Berlin  in  1915. 

Thus  each  promises  to  Lithuania  nothing  but 
final  destruction. 

Because  the  great  magnanimous  American  peo- 


148  APPENDIX 

pie  have  for  their  ideal  the  liberty  and  humanity  of 
all  nations,  the  martyred  Lithuanian  nation  is  sup- 
plicating for  aid  in  the  hope  that  the  noble  American 
people,  with  their  authoritative  word,  will  help 
Lithuania  to  destroy  the  iron  bonds  and  throw 
aside  the  oppressing  yoke  of  the  strangers. 

1,000,000   LEFT   HOMES    AS    RUSSIANS 
RETIRED 

LITHUANIAN     PRIEST    DESCRIBES     HEAVY    TRIALS     OF 
GREAT   ARMY    OF    REFUGEES 

A  movement  to  help  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Lithuanians,  Letts,  Poles,  and  Jews  who  were  swept 
along  with  the  retiring  Russian  armies  will  be  un- 
dertaken here  by  Rev.  Dr.  Anthony  Maliauskis,  a 
Lithuanian  priest,  w^ho  reached  here  on  Wednes- 
day on  the  Norwegian  steamer  Frederick  VIII. 
Before  he  left  Russia  he  went  from  Vilna  to  Petro- 
grad  and  obtained  first-hand  information  regarding 
the  conditions  of  these  refugees,  estimated  at  more 
than  1,000,000  men,  women,  and  children.  Accord- 
ing to  the  best  estimates  accessible,  these  refugees 
include  some  500,000  Lithuanians  and  200,000  Jews. 
More  than  160,000  families  are  involved  in  this 
exodus  caused  by  the  eastern  war. 

"A  Russian  general  staff  officer  told  me,"  said 
Dr.  Maliauskis,  "that  as  these  great  crowds  of 
refugees  were  swept  onward  by  the  retiring  move- 
ments of  the  troops  many  of  them  fell  exhausted 


APPENDIX  149 

and  died  of  hunger  by  the  roadside.  Others  tried 
to  ward  off  starvation  by  eating  every  green  thing 
to  be  found  in  the  fields  and  forests.  Even  the 
grass  and  shrubs  by  the  roadside  were  devoured. 
In  the  stress  and  confusion  of  the  time  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  military  to  afford  any  aid  whatso- 
ever, as  the  latter  could  not  provide  for  its  own 
needs. 

"Some  of  the  few  Russian  refugees  found  friends 
or  relatives,  it  is  said.  But  the  other  homeless  ones, 
many  of  whom  were  swept  forward  to  points  as 
distant  as  Moscow  and  even  farther,  found  that  no 
provision  could  be  made  to  shelter  so  vast  a  num- 
ber or  to  feed  them.  A  majority  of  them  were  from 
the  Russian  Lithuanian  provinces  of  Kovno,  Su- 
valki,  and  Vilna. 

"I  was  told  that  thousands  of  women  and  chil- 
dren were  living  in  fields  and  forests  without  food, 
many  of  them  ill  from  privation  and  exposure  on 
the  long  and  weary  flight.  All  are  helpless,  for 
everything  they  own  has  been  wiped  out.  With 
conditions  as  they  are  at  present,  and  the  vast  num- 
ber of  persons  to  be  cared  for,  it  is  extremely  doubt- 
ful if  they  can  expect  any  aid  from  Russian  charity 
in  the  immediate  future. 

"The  plight  of  these  refugees  from  the  eastern 
battle-front  appears  to  be  far  worse  than  anything 
of  the  kind  that  afflicted  the  people  of  Belgium.  I 
have  come  over  here  to  make  an  appeal  direct  to 
the   Lithuanians   to   aid   them.     There   are   about 


ISO  APPENDIX 

500,000  Lithuanians  in  America  and  10  per  cent  of 
them  are  in  New  York.  .  .  . 

"The  condition  of  many  of  the  people  in  the 
Lithuanian  provinces  of  Russia,  who  have  been 
buffeted  back  and  forth  between  the  two  great 
forces  in  two  invasions  and  many  battles,  is  not  a 
great  deal  better  than  that  of  the  refugees.  In 
many  cases  their  homes  and  property  are  lost,  and 
they  are  without  resources  of  any  kind  except  the 
bare  land." — New  York  Times,  October  30,  191 5. 

400,000  FARMS  RUINED  BY  FOE  IN 
LITHUANIA 

150,000  Starving  and  Penniless  Civilians  Liv- 
ing IN  Cellars  and  Dugouts 

Geneva,  May  18. — The  Lithuanian  Bureau  at 
Lausanne  has  made  public  statistics  received  from 
the  region  of  Lithuania  occupied  by  the  Germans. 
From  these  it  appears  that  150,000  civilians  are 
penniless  and  starving,  living  in  cellars  and  dugouts. 

Four  hundred  thousand  farms  in  that  region  are 
reported  to  have  been  devastated.  The  death-rate 
is  said  to  be  growing  alarmingly  on  account  of  the 
unsanitary  conditions  under  which  the  people  are 
living. — New  York  Times,  May  19,  191 7. 


APPENDIX  151 

CASE  OF  LITHUANIA   FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 

United  States  Senator  Lodge  in  Favor  of 
Free  Lithuania 

We  read  in  the  Congressional  Record,  vol  57, 
December  3,  1918: 

Mr.  Lodge.  Mr.  President,  I  have  here  a  state- 
ment of  the  committee  representing  the  Lithuanian 
associations  in  this  country.  Lithuania  is  a  coun- 
try for  which,  I  am  sure,  any  one  who  has  examined 
the  facts  feels  deepest  sympathy,  which  I  hope  will 
be  given  independent  government  and  freedom  in 
the  terms  of  peace.  I  desire  to  present  in  their 
behalf  to  the  Senate  their  case  for  independence, 
as  they  call  it,  and  ask  that  it  be  printed  as  a  public 
document  and  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations. 

The  Vice-President.  Without  objection,  it  is 
so  ordered. 


152  APPENDIX 

LITHUANIAN  ORGANIZATIONS  IN  AMER- 
ICA ENGAGED  IN  THE  WORK  OF  RE- 
STORING THE  INDEPENDENT  STATE 
OF  LITHUANIA 

Lithuania  National  Council,  representing: 

Lithuanian  Roman  Catholic  Alliance  of  America, 
National  Fund  (raised  over  ^400,000),  Lithu- 
anian Roman  Catholic  Federation  of  America, 
Lithuanian  Total  Abstinence  Union,  Lithu- 
anian Federation  of  Labor,  Lithuanian  Roman 
Catholic  Women's  Alliance  of  America,  and 
Knights  of  Lithuania. 

Council  on  Lithuanian  National  Affairs. 

Society  of  Lithuanian  Patriots. 

Lithuanian  Labor  Council. 

Lithuanian  Alliance  of  America. 

Lithuanian  National  League. 

Lithuanian  Independence  Fund. 

Lithuanian  National  Fund. 

Lithuanian  Development  Corporation. 

Young  Men's  Circle. 

Lithuanian  National  Treasury. 

American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War  Sufferers. 

Liberation  Fund  of  Lithuania. 

Lithuanian  Soldiers  Aid  Association. 

Lithuanian  Relief  Fund  for  War  Orphans  and 
Widows. 

Lithuanian  Central  War  Relief  Committee. 


APPENDIX  153 

Lithuanian  American  Relief  Committee. 
Lithuanian  CathoHc  Truth  Society. 
Lithuanian  Priests  Association. 
Lithuanian  Educational  Society  Motinele. 


BOOKS  AND   PAMPHLETS   PUBLISHED   IN 
BEHALF  OF  INDEPENDENT  LITHUANIA 

"Lithuanica."  Published  under  the  auspices  of 
American  Relief  Fund  for  Lithuanian  War 
Sufferers,  Zvaigzde,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1916. 

"A  Memorandum  upon  the  Lithuanian  Nation," 
Paris,  191 1. 

"A  Sketch  of  the  Lithuanian  Nation,"  Paris, 
1912. 

*'The  Lithuanian,  Ruthenian,  Jewish  and  Polish 
Questions,"  London,  191 5. 

"Lithuania  and  the  Autonomy  of  Poland,"  London, 

1915- 
"The  Lithuanian  Review,"  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
"Pro-Lithuania,"  Lausanne,  Switzerland. 
"The  Misery  of  the  Lithuanian  Refugees  in  Russia," 

Lausanne,  Switzerland,  1915. 
"Sidelights  on  Life  in  Lithuania,"  Washington,  D.  C. 
"Free    Lithuania."     A    collection    of    articles    on 

Lithuania  and  Lithuanians,  A.  Milukas  &  Co., 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1917. 


154  APPENDIX 

"Lithuania  in  Retrospect  and  Prospect,"  by  John 
Szlupas,  M.D.,  New  York,  Lithuanian  Press 
Association  of  America,  1915. 

"Essay  on  the  Past,  Present  and  Future  of  Lithu- 
ania," by  John  Szlupas,  Stockholm. 

"The  Lithuanians."  Address  of  Charles  L.  Brown, 
President  Judge,  Municipal  Court,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  January  4,  1917. 

"Lithuania:  Facts  Supporting  Her  Claim  for  Re- 
establishment  as  Independent  Nation,"  Dr. 
J.  J.  Bielskis,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"Case  of  Lithuania  for  Independence,"  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  1918.  (Also  Congressional  Record, 
S.  Doc.  305.) 

French 

"Memoire  sur  la  Nation  Lituanienne." 

"La  Nation  Lituanienne,"  Paris. 

"Lituaniens  et  Polonais,"  par  A.  Jakstis,  Paris,  1913. 

"L'Eglise    Polonaise    en    Lituanie,"    par   Mgr.    C. 

Propolanis,  Paris,  1914. 
"La  Situation  de  I'Eglise  Catholique  en  Lituanie," 

par  Dr.  J.  Gabrys,  Paris,  191 5. 
"La  Lituanie  Religieuse,"  par  A.  Viskontas,  Ph.D., 

D.D.,  Geneve,  1917. 
"La  Lituanie  russe  au  point  de  vue  statistique  et 

ethnographique,"    par   A.    Viskontas,    Geneve, 

1917. 


APPENDIX  155 

"La  Lituanie,"  par  A.  Vilimavicius,  Geneve,  1918. 
"La  Lituanie,  le  territoire  occupe,  la  population  et 

I'orientation  de  ses  idees,"  par  A.  Vilimavicius, 

Geneve,  1918. 
"Justice  Allemande,"  par  C.  Rivas,  Geneva-Nancy, 

1918. 

"Occupation  Allemande  en  Lituanie,"  par  C.  Rivas, 
Geneva,  1918. 

"La  Lituanie  dans  le  passe  et  dans  le  present,"  par 
W.  St.  Vidunas,  Geneve,  191 8. 

"La  Lituanie  sous  la  Botte  allemande,"  par  M. 
Ragana,  Paris,  1917. 

"Ober-Ost,  le  plan  annexionniste  allemand  en  Litu- 
anie," par  C.  Rivas,  Lausanne,  Switzerland, 
1917. 

"Les  SoufFrances  du  peuple  Lituanien,"  par  P.  L. 
K.,  Lausanne,  Switzerland,  1917. 

"Pro  Lituania,"  Lausanne,  Switzerland. 

"Carte  de  la  Lituanie,"  Lausanne,  Switzerland. 

"La  Haute  Trahison  de  44  Polonais,"  Lausanne. 

"Les  Lituaniens  d'Amerique,"  Lausanne,  1918. 

"L'Etat  Lituanien  et  le  Gouvernement  de  Suvalkai 
(Suvalki),"  Lausanne,  1918. 

"Observations  du  Delegue  du  Conseil  National 
Lituanien,"  Lausanne,  1918. 

"La  Lituanie  sous  le  Joug  Allemand  1915-1918. 
Le  plan  annexionniste  allemand   en   Lituanie. 


iS6  APPENDIX 

C.  Rivas,  Librairie  Centrale  des  Nationalites," 
Lausanne,  1918. 
"Le  Principaux  Artisans  de  la  Renaissance  Nationale 
Lituanienne,  Hommes  et  Choses  de  Lituanie, 
avec  preface  de  Mr.  Charles  Rivet,"  Lausanne, 
1918. 

Lithuanian  Catholic  Truth  Society 
Rev.  F.  Jaksztys,  President, 

29  Davis  St.,  Harrison,  N.  J. 
Rev.  a.  Kodis,  Treasurer, 

207  York  St.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Rev.  a.  M.  Milukas,  Secretary^ 

94  Hull  Ave.,  Maspeth,  L.  L 


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